Court-Watching

Research has shown that courtroom culture impacts litigants’ access to justice by influencing how the legal process operates. Based on that understanding, COEP’s three major goals are as follows:

1. 1. To observe and report on individual judges who have been flagged as having judicial performance issues related to temperament, bias, and/or courtroom management.
   2. To observe and report on judges who have been reported to be exceptionally good jurists. 
   3. To observe and report on general courtroom policies, procedures, and accessibility as part of our research and advocacy efforts.

When a judge is selected for the Court Observation & Education Program (after multiple reports* are made by law practitioners and court actors flagging them for #1 or #2 above), court-watchers are deployed to observe these judges in their courtrooms for up to 12 weeks. Volunteers may complete as many observations as they would like in addition to the minimum requirements, but are asked to commit to observing at least three one-hour sessions in the same courtroom on different days.

At the conclusion of the observations, program staff analyze repeated themes and other features presented in the data from court-watchers in each courtroom on a particular day. The themes that emerge provide insight on the environment of the courtroom and any access to justice issues that may arise. Staff them summarize the findings of the court-watchers that have observed judges and deliver the report to the judge in question as well as to the Presiding Judge of said judge’s division.

Approximately six months from the time this report is delivered, COEP court-watchers will again observe the judge in question to assess potential improvement; at that time, an updated version of this report which includes our findings based on the second round of court-watching will be accessible to the public.

Our court-watchers are community volunteers, so they provide unique and valuable perspectives on the functioning of our court system. Click here to become a court-watcher.

Our court-watchers do not observe the quality of judges’ rationales or their compliance with precedent but rather look at the micro-culture of each courtroom to understand how this environment impacts litigants. COEP volunteers play an important role in shedding light on the impact of court culture on litigant experience. COEP court-watchers focus on monitoring the culture of the courtroom and the comportment of judges.

Court-watchers receive training to assess the atmosphere, culture, and character of the courtroom to understand how judges influence the environment and collect data to inform our future advocacy efforts and ongoing research. Once trained, court-watchers observe court and complete an online survey to examine procedural fairness, judicial temperament and bias, and court management. The survey presently consists of five sections: (1) General Information, (2) Judicial Behavior, such as temperament and courtroom management, (3) Domestic Violence if applicable, (4) Complications, including a narrative of the experience, and (5) Survey Feedback. Regardless of volunteers they respond throughout, the survey ends with an opportunity for the participant to provide feedback on the survey.

Please make sure to answer questions 1-12 below and select ‘submit’ to ensure your response is captured.