Consider and take appropriate action in support of the Williamson County District Courts' application to the Texas Office of Court Administration for a grant to fund the Williamson County District Court Backlog Action Plan.

Action Item #1:  The Williamson County District Courts have a backlog of 2487 cases as of February 28, 2022.  This is a significant concern for the Courts and our ability to provide access to justice.  Case age is a significant factor: 1,467 of our pending cases were filed before 3/1/2020.

We developed a two-pronged action plan to address both the number and the age of backlogged cases:
Strategy 1:  Expedited Trial Docket -- this Expedited Trial Court will increase trial capacity by holding one criminal and one civil jury trial each month, and related docket days each non-trial week.  
Strategy 2:  Impact Docket -- the Impact Docket will increase the speed of case resolution by providing 2 days per week of docket time for uncontested matters (i.e. civil/family dispositions, pleas, and agreed sentencings).  By moving uncontested matters to the Impact Docket, the regular trial courts can focus on matters that are contested and require their attention.  

Action Item #2:  13% of pending cases involve one or more self-represented litigants.  Because of the involvement of individuals who lack formal training in the law, these matters often use more court time and resources than the ordinary case.

Strategy:  We propose creating a Self Represented Litigants Clinic staffed by provisional practice law students to assist self-represented parties as they prepare their uncontested matters for presentation at the impact docket.  These law students would be supervised by an attorney.  

The grant application is intended to fund these two action items.