Problem-solving courts.

• Author: Kaye, Judith S.
• Position: State courts

Thursday, February 28, 2002

For me, coming to the Fordham Law School always is a treat. I've spent many hours researching in your wonderful library, and I've attended a zillion great functions here. Until today, my favorite visit took place one Election Day when I popped in to see my friend the Dean, and his assistant asked: "Are you a student here?" Today's visit, however, takes the cake--it's the best. Imagine: two whole days dedicated to "Problem-Solving Courts: From Adversarial Litigation to Innovative Jurisprudence," from birth through adolescence, to a long and productive life.

And if it weren't treat enough just to be here at Fordham again, and to be part of this important symposium, I have a note saying, "You don't have to speak for a whole half-hour. We're just pleased to have you with us." What a terrific welcome! So, recognizing that you all have been at this since 8:30 this morning, and have another very full day tomorrow beginning at 8:30, I will try to be brief. That, I know, is one of humanity's most failed aspirations. I notice in a letter outlining guidelines for submissions to the Fordham Urban Law Journal, that the Journal does not publish "public relations type material, opinion essays, or articles summarizing information readily available elsewhere." What I have to say this afternoon happens to fall into all three categories. In my opinion, problem-solving courts are by far the most exciting, most promising recent development in the law. And that public relations-type opinion is amply buttressed by information readily available elsewhere.

Of all the phenomenal people, and categories, you have on your program--judges and professors and Bar leaders to name a few--I see that I am the only person in the Chief Judge category, so I would like to speak from that perspective. It's good--very, very good--to speak from the Chief Judge perspective.

I may be the only person on the program in the Chief Judge category, but I am not alone among Chief Judges in the view I hold about problem-solving courts. At its Summer 2000 meeting, the nationwide Conference of Chief Justices unanimously endorsed the concept of problem-solving courts, and resolved to encourage the broad integration of the principles and methods used in those courts into the administration of justice, in order "to improve court processes and outcomes while preserving the rule of law, enhancing judicial effectiveness, and meeting the needs and expectations of litigants...