Another summer read, that is definitely a must for this strange time of COVID-19 and changing court process, is the book Reimagining Courts, A design for the 21st century by Victor Flango and Tom Clarke.
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This wonderful, directly written book collect data and ideas for how the court system in the United States might be improved to be more human-centered and more efficient. They look at what is happening inside of different types of court systems in the US, including some innovative new models, like problem-solving courts.
This detailed analysis leads to some exciting proposals about more litigant-centered court system design.
-What if we can triage cases to a track that better suits the litigants preferences, and the types of issues in the case?
What if we could promote more problem-solving court models, for those types of cases and litigants scenarios where more social services and treatment are needed? And where judges playing a more collaborative and holistic role can get people to better social outcomes?
I am particularly interested in new designs for housing courts and debt collection claims, and how they could be transformed with procedure that better prevents defaults; improves defendants’ meaningful participation in court; and better allocates scarce resources in the court system to resolve disputes and get people’s lives back on track.
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Especially as COVID-19 has introduced new emergency procedures + formats of court, it’s time to be thoughtful about what the ‘new normal’ might be. Can we use Flango + Clarke’s suggestions of more deliberate triage of case types, more problem-solving alternatives to adversarial sessions, and more litigant choice in how much ‘process’ they get?