Virtual appearances were a hot topic at a recent Civil Bench-Bar meeting. ADKT 0581 Order Adopting Recommendations of the Commission to Study Best Practices for Virtual Advocacy in Nevada’s Courts became effective February 1, 2024, and judges offered insight on some of the best practices.
Judge Gloria Sturman made it clear that District Court now has Zoom links to appear remotely for every department on each department webpage under the preferences tab.
“The start of calendar is not the time to figure out Zoom, do it in advance.” Judge Tara Clark Newberry cautioned attorneys. “Witnesses need to be seen,” she added. She added that cameras should be on and dress should be professional.
“We were a very busy court last year.” The presiding Civil Division judge ticked down a number of very impressive stats that show the court has been getting things done, including catching up on the backlog resulting from the pandemic.
- 390 trials in 2023
- 57 criminal jury trials
- 67 civil jury trials
- 92 civil bench trials
- 174 default prove-up bench trials
- 400 settlement conference resolving cases including 118 criminal settlement conferences
- 310 evidentiary hearings
Judge Clark-Newberry gave a heads-up on an upcoming inactive case review sweep scheduled for April 17-18. She offered the advice to read any notice of hearings on inactive cases. “There will be a number of ways to get the cases resolved. We want to ensure that cases get closed out properly,” said Judge Clark Newberry.
Judge Sturman closed the meeting by reminding attorneys to submit ideas for Bench-Bar and CLE topics.