A planning committee assembled by Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Kemp has met for the first time in its effort to draw up a yearslong plan for the state's judiciary.
Kemp, who began serving atop the state's highest court on Jan. 1, announced plans to publish the court's first long-term strategic plan during his State of the Judiciary address at last month's Bar Association annual meeting.
The proposed report, titled "Delivering Justice, Vision for 2025," will take a year and a half to produce, Kemp said.
Among the issues Kemp said he hoped the report would address are updating jury and case-management systems, automating courtroom technology and making electronic filing available in all judicial circuits.
"We don't want a plan just sitting on the desk drawing dust. We want a chance to implement it," Kemp said in a phone call Monday.
As chief justice, Kemp has administrative responsibility over the state's judiciary.
He told the Bar Association that Arkansas has one of just 12 state court systems that does not publish a long-term strategic plan.
According to a news release sent out by the court Monday, Kemp made 19 appointments to the committee, which convened for the first time Friday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Little Rock.
The committee has Kemp serving as chairman. The committee members are 11 other judges from the Court of Appeals, circuit and district courts, along with a pair each of court administrators, court reporters, circuit court clerks and district court clerks.
While the release said little of what was discussed at the meeting, Marty Sullivan, the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, said it was an "orientation" of sorts for the committee.
Sullivan's counterpart in Virginia's court system, Cyril Miller, was invited by the group to give an outline of the work the committee should expect to do in drafting its report.
In addition, two subcommittees were formed to draft mission and vision statements for the court. Those statements will be presented when the committee meets again in September, Kemp said.
Metro on 07/25/2017