The Indiana Supreme Court will require enhanced continuing education for judicial officers.  The order amending Indiana Rules for Admission to the Bar and Discipline of Attorneys provides details on the new requirements. Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard signed the order today and said, “Indiana judges hold themselves to a high standard.  They asked the Court to require additional continuing education hours and recommended specific changes to mandatory continuing education requirements.  I was pleased to sign the order making the changes they proposed a requirement for Indiana judges.”

In April, the Board of Directors of the Judicial Conference of Indiana voted unanimously in favor of enhanced education requirements for judges.  The Chair of the Judicial Education Committee, Warren Circuit Court Judge John Rader explained, “To effectively administer justice for all litigants, a judge must continually improve his or her legal skills.  Our committee and the judges that have contacted me support the increase in the number of required education hours for Indiana judges.  We are pleased the Indiana Supreme Court made the changes to Court Rules to require this enhanced education.”

The new requirements go into effect January 1, 2011.  Details can be found in the order, generally they include the following:

Under the new requirements, “state level judicial officers,” which includes all full-time judges and magistrates in trial and appellate courts, will be required to obtain at least fifty-four hours of Continuing Judicial Education credits per three year reporting period.  To ensure continued learning, the requirement cannot be met in one year.  Judicial officers must also have at least fifteen hours of Continuing Judicial Education (CJE) each year.  In addition, the ethics/professional responsibility requirement will increase from three to five hours over the three-year reporting period.  Non-legal subject matter credit will be capped at eighteen hours and distance education at nine hours for this classification of judicial officers.
 
Continuing Judicial Education (CJE) will be used for judicial officers rather than Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits. CLE requirements will remain in place for Indiana attorneys. The enhanced educational requirement will be mandatory for “state level judicial officers” including Indiana Supreme Court justices, appellate level judges, trial judges, magistrates and full-time commissioners and referees. Requirements for senior judges, part-time commissioners and referees, Marion County small claims judges and city/town court judges are not changed under the new requirements. This group of judicial officers will still be required to obtain at least six hours of CLE, now called continuing judicial education (CJE), each year with no less than thirty-six hours per three-year reporting period, and no more than twelve hours non-legal subject matter courses or six hours of distance education can be reported.

The enhanced requirements are part of a larger plan to improve the Indiana Judicial Branch.  In September 2009 the Conference unveiled a strategic plan titled “A New Way Forward.”  The long-term plan sets priorities for the branch to improve professionalism, effectiveness and efficiency.  One recommendation in the plan includes enhanced education for judges.  Strategic Planning Co-Chairs Terry Shewmaker of Elkhart Circuit Court and Mark Stoner of Marion Superior Court support the requirement.  Judge Shewmaker explained, “There are three main focuses of the strategic plan.  One area includes enhanced education requirements for judges.  We are very pleased the Supreme Court approved this proposal because it will ensure judges improve their skills and knowledge of the law which ultimately improves the quality of justice in our state.” 

The Judicial Conference of Indiana is made up of judges from across the state.  The board of the Conference serves as the governing board for Indiana judges.  The Indiana Judicial Center is the staff agency for the Judicial Conference.  After voting in favor of the enhanced requirements, the Conference Board sent the proposed changes to the Indiana Supreme Court to consider. The five members of the Supreme Court considered the proposed rule change, approved the proposal and Chief Justice Shepard signed the order amending the current rules. 

For more information on the Indiana Supreme Court visit courts.in.gov, for more information on the strategic plan visit www.in.gov/judiciary/committees/strategic/, and for more information on Continuing Legal Education visit www.in.gov/judiciary/cle.