Washington Courts Report

• Blake Refund Bureau Spotlight

  For our March edition of Washington Courts Report, host Patric Haerle interviewed the AOC’s own Chris Stanley, the Chief Financial and Management Officer for the AOC, and Robin Zimmermann, the Blake External Relations Liaison on the important work of the Blake Refund Bureau. In 2021, the Washington State Supreme Court found the law criminalizing drug possession unconstitutional. As a result of this decision, known as State v. Blake, any Blake-related convictions in Washington State qualify to be vacated from one's criminal record, and any legal financial obligations paid as a result qualify for financial reimbursement. To administer these reimbursements statewide, the Washington State Legislature determined a centralized bureau would be instrumental. AOC was appointed the task of developing the Blake Refund Bureau in collaboration with local courts and county clerks, public defenders, prosecutors, impacted individuals, advocacy groups and other stakeholders, which launched July of 2023. Highlights of the episode include the history of the Refund Bureau, a clip from a Blake-impacted Individual on how having their record vacated has helped them and insight into how much money has been refunded to Blake-impacted individuals and how much is still slated for distribution.  We want to hear from you about how we can best improve the show! If you have any feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future episode topics please email them to [email protected]

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• Hope Card Program Launch

  For today's episode, Patric interviewed program analyst for the AOC, Lauren Pilnick, and Survivor Advocate, Jamie Sullivan, on their role they’ve played in the launch of the state’s Hope Card program, which launched on January 1st of this year. The Hope Card Program makes it easier for individuals with full civil protection orders to carry important details about their orders. These wallet-sized, durable cards include the information law enforcement needs to verify a protection order if a violation occurs. Hope Cards are a simpler way to inform police, employers, schools, or landlords about your protection order and are completely free. Highlights include the first statistics from the programs first 6 weeks of being live, the importance of this bill to survivors and holders of protection orders, and journey the program took from a single advocate’s idea in 2023, all the way to the presentation of the first Hope Card to Sullivan this year. We want to hear from you in how we can best improve the show! If you have any feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future episode topics please email them to [email protected]

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• State of the Judiciary

  Washington Courts Report is back! In this special episode, Patric returns from a hiatus to cover the recent State of the Judiciary publication and address from recently elected Chief Justice Debra Stephens. Topics covered include building courts of the future, Yakima’s Courthouse Clinic, AOC’s work with therapeutic courts, the Pierce County Juror Pay Pilot, the important work of the Blake Refund Bureau and a brief mention of our next podcast topic coming later in February, on the launch of the state’s Hope Card program.   We want to hear from you in how we can best improve the show! If you have any feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future episode topics please email them to [email protected]

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• Artificial Intelligence in the Courts

  In our newest episode, we have Artificial Intelligence on the brain, as host Patric Haerle sits down to discuss AI — and its potential impacts on the legal system — with two judges from the Washington Data Science and AI Cohort. Highlights from the episode include Judge Ketu Shah’s explanation on the potential benefits of AI to the courts and those in the legal professions at the 11:30 mark in the recording, and Judge Lisa Mansfield’s introductions to potential risks it could pose, and the intersection of AI and racial justice starting at minute 16. Keep an eye out for new podcast episodes releasing monthly by subscribing to the Washington Courts YouTube page or by following Washington Courts Report on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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• Pierce County Juror Pay Pilot

  In this edition, host Patric Haerle interviews Pierce County Superior Court Administrator Chris Gaddis to learn about Pierce County’s recently launched Juror Pay Pilot Project. Afterwards, Patric talks with AOC’s own Laurie Louise Sale, Project Manager for the Pay Pilot to learn about AOC’s partnership with Pierce County. Topics of conversation for this episode include the background of the Pay Pilot, the benefit increased juror pay would provide to the justice system, what a successful pilot would look like, and the importance of jury diversity.

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