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“Contact tracing,” public health, N95, KN95, social and physical spacing, plexiglass, and a host of uncommon words became as familiar as our daily legalese and, many times, challenged the core mission of the court to provide access to justice. The severe budget reductions imposed on our court within a swift 90 days as the world experienced an economic shutdown were as unprecedented as the pandemic. Court leaders worked hard to stay within our guidelines of ensuring our team’s health, safety, and well-being so they could take care of our community. One of many goals included the least impact on their take-home pay. We were able to limit furlough days and avoid lay-offs at the cost of holding vacant positions open, which will continue to strain our resources for quite some time. The long-term goal to preserve the institution and the quality of our staff was achieved, as was exhibited by the loyalty, passion, flexibility, and sheer willpower of all our judicial officers and staff. During the worst of the pandemic in 2021, our court continued to provide access to justice. Through a series of technology grants, the court implemented necessary access to the community through live audio streaming of court proceedings, expanded remote mediation appointments for visitation and custody issues, remote settlement conferences, and other calendared matters in all case types, including as a leader in remote access in Juvenile Dependency Court. On August 30, 2021, we began our first remote civil jury trial. Self-Help services continued through our remote platform Direct Access to Self-Help (DASH). We completed the final go-live of our new case management system and soft-launched a home-grown product for remote access to cases and court documents.

HONORABLE R. GLENN YABUNO Presiding Judge

NANCY CS EBERHARDT Court Executive Officer

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ANNUAL REPORT 2021