“Never in our careers have we seen so much sudden change in the way that the bench and bar meet our obligations to do justice,” writes Deputy Chief Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit Daniel B. Shanes in his February Illinois Bar Journal article, “Courts of the Future.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, we could no longer simply walk into a courtroom to have cases heard, Judge Shanes observes as he counts the many ways the COVID-19 pandemic changed how courts operate. But just because the pandemic is over, Judges Shanes asks, why stop remote participation? Judge Shanes elaborates on new Illinois Supreme Court Rule 45, which provides more permanent procedures for remote court proceedings while also importantly providing both that courts retain the discretion to conduct proceedings in person when appropriate and ensure that remote proceedings deliver justice. While remote participation enabled many courts and cases to move forward during the pandemic, Judge Shanes also suggests we learned that some types of cases and proceedings do not lend themselves so naturally to remote participation.

Read "Courts of the Future" in the February IBJ.