Judicial Education Commission
Members Present
Justice Mary Muehlen Maring, Chair
Judge Sonna Anderson
Judge John McClintock
Judge Steven McCullough
Judge David Reich
Judge DeNae Kautzmann
Deborah Carlson, Juvenile Court Director
Jean Lindvig, Electronic Court Recorder
Kathryn Rand, Dean UND Law School
Staff Present
Lee Ann Barnhardt, Director of Education and Communication
Louie Hentzen, Assistant State Court Administrator
Lana Zimmerman, scribe
Justice Maring called the meeting to order. A motion was made by Judge McClintock to
approve the June 4, 2010, minutes. The motion was seconded by Judge Kautzmann,
motion carried.
Old Business
I. Lee Ann Barnhardt updated the Commission on the progress of the following conference:
A. The ND Conference on Juvenile Justice is scheduled for June 7-9, 2011, at the
Ramkota Hotel in Bismarck. A Save-The-Date will be sent out in January 2011 with the
registration information to follow in March.
II. Ms. Barnhardt provided an update on the Domestic Violence Bench Book. The
subcommittee has met twice. There have been good suggestions and the subcommittee has
proposed a table of contents. Professor Robin Runge of the UND School of Law is well
informed in the Domestic Violence field and has provided good leadership. The deadline for
completion of the project, which is funded through a STOP Grant, is April30, 2011. This
committee is scheduled to meet again December 17, 2010.
III. Judge Reich reported on the Trial Court Bench Book subcommittee. The subcommitee’s
meeting minutes were distributed. The subcommittee met on November 22, 2010. Suggestions
for improving the existing Bench Book were discussed along with the idea of producing a “mini”
Bench Book. There will be a subcommittee meeting in January 2011 to review the first draft with
checklists.
IV. The new Magistrate Bench Guide is ready for input from the Commission. Justice Maring
would like the Commission to read through the bench guide and give suggestions if appropriate.
Ms. Barnhardt stated that the final draft of the bench guide will be presented for consideration at
the next commission meeting.
Ms. Barnhardt distributed a new Magistrate Report of Compliance form to the Commission for
review. The form would be used by magistrates to report continuing education hours and would
require them to review the bench guide with their presiding judge every other year.
A motion was made by Judge McClintock to approve the Magistrate Report of Compliance
Form. The motion was seconded by Judge Anderson, motion carried.
V. Ms. Barnhardt reported on the 2011 Judicial Institute scheduled for May 23-25, 2011, at the
UND Law School in Grand Forks, ND. The majority of the agenda had been discussed
previously. The new items added were two tracks on diversity and a session on evidence based
sentencing and using PSI reports.
A Save-The-Date will be sent out with an on-line registration for hotel accommodations. A block
of rooms is reserved for judges at the Hilton Garden Inn and a block of rooms for staff and
faculty at the CanadInn, Grand Forks.
By consensus, the Commission decided to extend an invitation to the Municipal Judges with a
registration deadline to be determined by Ms. Barnhardt.
VI. Ms. Barnhardt surveyed the Trial Court Administrators regarding their support of a proposed
Judicial Writing Seminar for the law clerks, staff attorneys, and judicial support staff. She
reported that the administrators were in favor of the seminar. Faculty for the seminar will be Ron
Hoffer, who was recommended by Justice Crothers. This seminar will be offered August 25-26,
2011, in Bismarck with two half day sessions.
A motion was made by Judge Anderson to approve the Judicial Writing Seminar as a pilot
seminar in August 2011. The motion was seconded by Judge Kautzmann, motion carried.
New Business
I. Ms. Barnhardt reported on the Limited English Proficiency Training Plan (LEP). Every court
in the country that receives federal dollars is required to have an LEP in place, approved, and on
file. The plan approved for the ND Court System includes training for staff and judicial officers.
The task for the Commission is to add LEP training to future conferences.
The first training will be conducted at the June Judicial Conference. It will consist of a
presentation on the following: What is LEP? What is in the LEP Plan? and Why are we doing
it? Ms. Barnhardt plans to work with the trial court administrators to develop a program that can
be presented at conferences throughout the next year. In the following years, the training can be
narrowed down to specific topics related to LEP.
A motion was made by Judge Kautzmann to develop a preliminary program to be included
in all conferences during the next budget cycle. The motion was seconded by Judge
McClintock, motion carried.
II. Ms. Barnhardt reported that the Judicial Conference will be June 16, 2011, in conjunction
with the SBAND Annual Meeting at the Ramada Plaza Suites, Fargo. The Judicial Conference
will be held in the afternoon prior to the Chief Justice’s speech to the General Assembly. The
Conference will include the LEP Program, a legislative update, and a session on “Veteran’s
Court” has been a request by the Veteran’s Administration.
III. Ms. Barnhardt reported the continuing education reporting period ends on June 30, 2011, and
there is a concern regarding the reporting requirements for new judges. In regards to the newly
elected District Court judges, Administrative Rule 36 (4) (a) can be interpreted two ways. The
first, that they are required to complete 45 hours of training for the reporting period. Second,
new judge are required to report after a three-year tenure. One judge plans to attend the “New
Judges” training in Reno, NV, in May, but the other newly elected/appointed judges will not
attend until October 2011. Options available for consideration are to give them an extension,
which is allowed under the current rule, to stagger the terms, or to waive the requirements
because they have less than a year in office.
Ms. Barnhardt proposed amending Administrative Rule 36 (4) (a) to waive the reporting
requirement for district judges with less than a year of service.
A motion was made by Judge Anderson to change the suggested language in
Administrative Rule 36 (4) (a), as proposed by Ms. Barnhardt. The motion was seconded
by Judge McClintock, motion carried.
Ms. Barnhardt proposed a language change in Rule 36 (4) (c) to change the word “attend” to
“complete” for magistrates.
A motion was made by Judge McClintock to change the suggested language in
Administraive Rule 36 (4) (c)as proposed by Ms. Barnhardt. The motion was seconded by
Deb Carlson, motion carried.
Ms. Barnhardt proposed changes to Administrative Rule 36 (6) (b) to update the “presumptively
approved” provider list with correct provider names and to add two organizations to the list: the
National Association of Women Judges and the American Institute for Justice.
A motion was made by Judge Kautzmann to approve the amendments to Rule 36 (6) (b).
The motion was seconded by Judge Anderson, motion carried.
A motion was made by Judge Reich to recommend the amendments of Rule 36 (4) and (6)
to the North Dakota Supreme Court. The motion was seconded by Judge Kautzmann,
motion carried.
2011 Judicial Branch Education Commission Dates:
Friday, March 25, 2011 (Review Strategic Plan)
Friday, June 3, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
Respectively Submitted,
Lana Zimmerman, scribe
ND Supreme Court