« Courts - Dahlia Lithwick writes on state court judges and the gay marriage bans | Main | Ind. Law - More on: Mo-peds, Scooters and Golf Carts »

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Ind. Courts - Judge Barbara Arnold Harcourt retires, joins Supreme Court administration [More]

The Rushville Republican reports, in a story by Sarah Bruner:

After 18 years in office at the Rush County Courthouse as judge of the Rush Circuit Court, the Honorable Judge Barbara Arnold Harcourt has made the decision not to seek re-election and to pursue other areas of interest. Judge Harcourt will be working with State Court Administration with the Indiana Supreme Court. * * *

Rush County is predominantly Republican and Judge Harcourt is a Democrat. When asked if this ever caused complications she replied, “It makes for a different dynamic, but complications? No. Although I am elected on a partisan ballot, once we are in office it is completely non-partisan.”

Judge Harcourt praised county department heads, the county commissioners and council members, saying that they have all been “terrific.”

Judge Harcourt began her career teaching in Nevada, and has now moved to working on Web-based courses—along with the Honorable Stephan Bradbury from Susanville, Calif. and the Honorable Doug Harkin from Missoula, Mont. These courses are scheduled for Sept. 11 through Oct. 27, 2006.

Judge Harcourt was quoted in the winter/spring edition of “Case in Point” saying, “Isolation is such a big issue with rural judges. Distance learning is a great way to give people the opportunity to have educational experiences that would normally not be available to them.” * * *

She admits that she will miss the local bench but noted, “New brooms sweep clean.” And although she will no longer be the judge for Rush Circuit Court her home is here in Rush County and she has no plans to relocate.

Judge Harcourt’s term will officially end Dec. 31, 2006.

[More] I have been able to locate the issue of Case in Point referenced. If you have broadband you can access it also -- it is a 40-page publication, the article quoting Judge Harcourt is on page 9 (or 11, if you go by the page numbers). Some quotes from the article, "Isolated No More: NJC' New Web Course Focuses on Enahncing the Skills of Rural Judges.":
Judge Harcourt, who has been an NJC faculty member since 1993, is one of three rural court judges designing the curriculum for Rural Courts: A Web-Based Course, scheduled for Sept. 11-Oct. 27, 2006. She will also be a faculty member for the course. “I am working on isolation and the roles of rural court judges,” she explained. “Should they play a more active role or focus more on their roles as adjudicators? I will be discussing different kinds of crimes and the programs that are used in different areas. It is going to be extremely interactive. I want the judges to network with each other so they can build a base of people to chat with when issues arise in their courts. Isolation is such a big issue with rural judges.” * * *

Hon. Doug Harkin, a district court judge from Missoula, Mont., is creating the section of the course that will focus on problems that are unique to rural judges as well as solutions to those problems.

“Rural courts face unique challenges such as the great distances involved, limited technology, lack of funding and diffi culty in obtaining training,” he explained. “Many rural court judges have very little contact with other rural judges in their states. Distances between courts and limited funds for travel often keep face-to-face communication to a minimum. The great beauty of the Internet is that now rural judges can communicate with their contemporaries on a daily basis when time permits and access learning and research sources.”

My thoughts. Law blogs also are helping to bring everyone up to the same information level. I think How Appealing and the SCOTUSblog, for example, have increased lawyers' and judges' awareness of what is going in the federal court system as it happens. And the same for the state court systems, in states that have good law blogs. I remember when I got out of law school (some years ago), keeping up with U.S. Supreme Court cases was very difficult (there was BNA's looseleaf publication, LawWeek, at the law library, that was about it); keeping up with state court opinions was practically impossible.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 27, 2006 03:48 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts