Robert A. Clifford, Founder and Senior Partner of Clifford Law Offices, wrote an article for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin addressing how imperative it is to get the courts up and running again. Prior to nationwide dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccine, the court system, like many other entities, closed their doors temporarily, putting cases on hold and creating a larger backlog than they already had.
In the article, Bob specifically addressed the Cook County Circuit Court – “the largest judicial circuit in Illinois and one of the largest unified court systems in the world” – where Clifford Law Offices has numerous personal injury clients with civil matters “patiently waiting” for their day in court. That day may not come soon enough, as he stated, “It was reported in January that more than 9,000 criminal defendants await trial.”
While some judicial systems have implemented unique ways to hear cases – in a ballroom or high school gymnasium to accommodate social distancing – others have utilized Zoom for hearings, but Bob suggests that a case on Zoom is not the same as “judging the credibility of witnesses in person” or “seeing how a trial progresses in real-time before your eyes.” He states how crucial it is to “figure out how to free the logjam of cases in a safe setting and get trials moving again” and asks for support from “all stakeholders, including jurors.”
Read Bob’s entire article here.