Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Technology Innovator - Judge Emily Miskel Recognized

 


It was announced that Texas District Court Judge Emily Miskel “who in May led the nation’s first-ever remote jury trial, is the recipient of the 2020 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, the highest honor bestowed to a state court judge by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). This prestigious award honors a state court judge who demonstrates the outstanding qualities of judicial excellence, including integrity, fairness, open-mindedness, knowledge of the law, professional ethics, creativity, sound judgment, intellectual courage, and decisiveness.”




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An excellent article on Governing.com titled All Rise: Virtual Court Is Now in Session describes what and how she pioneered the use of technology for the jury trial but importantly, how her court created the processes and procedures for success.

Specifically: 

“Miskel also needed to find a way to re-create virtually that environment in which scheduled cases are settled outside the courtroom. Zoom’s breakout room function proved to be the answer. The 10-case docket was broken into morning and afternoon sessions. Parties receive a meeting ID and check in with the court coordinator, who makes sure audio and video are working, adjusts screen names if needed and moves them into a separate breakout room for each case. “I sign on, go into the first breakout room and tell them I’m ready to call the case,” says Miskel. “I invite them to the main meeting window, and we take care of things.”

Zoom’s one-button feature makes it easy to stream proceedings to YouTube, enabling the court to meet the requirement for proceedings to be public, and judges were assisted in creating YouTube channels for their courts.”

I would like to encourage our CTB readers to take in the entire article that provides additional examples of the results and benefits that were realized.  

Judge Miskel was able to be successful in these efforts as Judge’s Rehnquist Award press release provides the following additional background:

“The National Center is honored to present the Rehnquist Award to an innovative state court judge who met the challenge of using technology to make jury trials a reality during the pandemic,” NCSC President Mary McQueen said. “Judge Miskel is not only a trailblazer in this area but an extraordinary judge who has been recognized for her outstanding work on the bench.”

Judge Miskel received her law degree from Harvard Law School and has served as a district judge since her court was created in 2015. She is a member of the Texas Judicial Council, the policy-making body for the state judiciary. Judge Miskel is board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. In December, she will also be board certified in child welfare law.

“In these historically challenging times, a few true leaders have come to the fore. Judge Miskel is at the head and worthy of the award named in honor of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist,” Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Texas State Court Administrator David Slayton said in a nomination letter. “We think Chief Justice Rehnquist would be proud, as we are, of Judge Miskel’s outstanding qualities of judicial excellence demonstrated most powerfully over the past three months but also over her legal and judicial career.”

Congratulations again to Judge Miskel.


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