Citizen's Justice Conference

• Publication year: 2001
• Pages: 45

30 Colo.Law. 45 Colorado Lawyer 2001.

2001, August, Pg. 45. Citizen's Justice Conference

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45

Vol. 30, No. 8, Pg. 45

The Colorado Lawyer
August 2001
Vol. 30, No. 8 [Page 45]

Features
CBA President's Message to Members
Citizen's Justice Conference
by Laird T. Milburn

In the July issue of The Colorado Lawyer,1 I outlined my thoughts regarding the need to consider whether professional reform is something we should adopt in Colorado to increase the public's respect for lawyers. A related concern of mine involves the question of whether we should be equally concerned with efforts to improve public trust and confidence in our courts and the justice system. Obviously, such confidence is essential, if for no other reason than to preserve a strong, independent, and effective judiciary

Last summer, Governor Owens's Task Force on Civil Justice Reform issued its report regarding needed reforms of the civil justice system in Colorado. The Task Force was convened in the summer of 1999, and its membership consisted primarily of prominent and respected attorneys and judges from around the state. It suggested several specific measures that were expected to improve both the quality and speed of civil dispute resolution in Colorado.2 As a result, twenty-four additional district court judges were added to the bench, a clear benefit to the people of this state. About the same time that the Task Force issued its report in Colorado, a Citizen's Justice Conference was being held in the state of Oregon, sponsored by the Oregon Bar Association, Oregon Supreme Court, League of Women Voters of Portland, and a local community college. The Conference had as its theme "Building Trust and Confidence in the Justice System Through Citizen Involvement." The purpose of the Conference was to solicit the non-legal community, from as wide a variety of constituencies as possible, to participate in a process that would, first, frame the issues the public thinks most important regarding the justice system, and then to engage the participants in a day-long conference, with minimal involvement from attorneys and judges, designed to identify the public's perception of needed changes or improvements

After reviewing the results of the Oregon Conference, which were published in a report issued this past September,3 and engaging in discussions with leaders and organizers involved in the Oregon...