View from the bench. A Life in Being Plus 50 Years: A Half-Century of Litigation News

• Pages: 22-23
• Date: 01 January 2026
• Published date: 01 January 2026
• Author: Hon. Carl A. Aveni
• Subject Matter: Civil Law

Published in Litigation News Volume 51, Num ber 2, Winter 202 6. © 2026 by the Amer ican Bar Ass ociation. Rep roduced with pe rmission. A ll rights reser ved. This info rmation or any po rtion thereof

may not be copied o r disseminated i n any form or by any means o r stored in an elec tronic databas e or retrieval system w ithout the expres s written consen t of the American Ba r Association .

t was just a routine hearing, checking in on the prog-

ress of the defendant’s competency restoration. The

lawyers had received the treating psychologist’s report a

week before, suggesting incremental progress, but urg-

ing continued institutionalization. It was almost certain

that both counsel would stipulate to the f‌indings and request

another check-in several months down the road. Unless either

side requested it be converted into an evidentiary hearing,

the entire proceeding would take 15 minutes. As a trial judge

of general jurisdiction, I have several of these hearings each

month, and there was no reason in particular to think that

this one would stand out whatsoever.

But the defendant was prone to agitation, and transporting

him to the courthouse required security precautions that could

be disruptive and uncomfortable, and that risked setting back

some of the progress painstakingly made. Would the court

permit the defendant’s appearance by Zoom videoconference

from the institution? It’s the sort of request that would have

been inconceivable in prior decades—most obviously because

A Life in Being Plus 50 Years:

A Half-Century of Litigation News

By Hon. Carl A. Aveni, Litigation News Asso ciate Editor

the technology wasn’t available, but also because cultural

norms among the judiciary and bar rigidly expected incarcer-

ated and institutionalized defendants to be physically trans-

ported for all proceedings, no matter the cost. Due process

demanded it. It was the way things had always been done.

Until it wasn’t. The COVID-19 pandemic reshued expec-

tations of what was even possible, let alone part of best prac-

tices, and the law was struggling to catch up. At the height of

the pandemic, traditional courthouse operations ran squarely

against new social distancing requirements, and culture had

to give way. Emerging technology f‌illed those gaps, creating

new culture in the process. Eventually, even as the eects of

the initial disruption receded, the new technologies and the

new culture remained. That f‌irst post-pandemic Zoom hearing

was just three years ago. Today, fully a third of like-situated

defendants in competency restoration hearings participate

via remote videoconference—at least when medically recom-

mended by treatment providers and requested by counsel. And

merrily we roll along.

VIEW FROM THE BENCH

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WINTER 202 6 • VOL. 51 NO. 2

22 | ABA LITIGATION SECTIO N