‘I can go anywhere and do it:’ Courtrooms are back but San Antonio lawyers are still partly online
Courthouse proceedings are once again done in person, but a hybrid system has emerged that also relies on videoconferencing technology, as in state District Judge Laura Salinas’ civil docket call Thursday.Attorney Maribel Cruz split her time last week between in-person and electronic proceedings in Bexar County’s presiding court, a convenient hybrid in a judiciary starting to emerge from pandemic restrictions.
“I have been foaming at the mouth for this day,” Garza, 54, said Friday about the return to actual courtrooms, which started last week in Bexar County. “I can’t wait to get back in person.”COVID-19 slammed the brakes on in-person trials for 13 months, causing a backlog that at its height was about 50,000 cases. In the second half of 2021, a raft of plea bargains and some limited and brief trial activity reduced that number to about 30,000.
But the civil courts had experience with teleconferencing at the height of the pandemic and Alvarado implementedin February encouraging them to hold remote and hybrid nonjury hearings. Participants who choose to appear in person were told to be prepared to introduce documents and evidence on Zoom. The proceedings “have been very smooth,” she said.
Bexar County uses a presiding court system for its civil courts. Each of the 14 district judges rotate monthly to assign cases on dockets of nonjury and pretrial matters to the other judges. The dockets routinely contain more than 100 cases, and the sorting begins each day at 8:30 a.m. Alvarado said this hybrid test can last as long as the state’s judiciary is under emergency orders set by the Texas Supreme Court, which allowed for relaxed rules in all courtrooms during the pandemic.
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