The Michigan Judicial Institute (MJI) produces a variety of resources for judges and court staff. Anyone can access MJI’s calendar of events, recent IMPACT e-mail, videos, publications, and Q&As. Here are some helpful hints about navigating the MJI website:
Calendar of Events
Many people are familiar with MJI’s calendar of events, but did you know that you can filter the events by audience type? Just click on Judicial Programs, Court Management Programs, Court Personnel Programs, Quasi-Judicial Programs, or Non-MJI Events to see a list of events relevant to that audience type.IMPACT E-Mail (and Podcasts Too!)
IMPACT is an e-mail summarizing recent court and legislative activity that MJI delivers twice per month to a list of subscribers. In addition, MJI records those summaries as audio files, so you can listen to them instead of reading them. You can access the latest e-mail (in PDF) or the podcasts from the MJI website. You can also subscribe if you are missing out on this great service!Videos
The videos appearing on the MJI website are arranged in alphabetical order, but there are a lot of them, right? Did you know that you can reduce scrolling by filtering the videos? Appearing on the right side of the page, you can click on Administrative, Civil, Criminal, Family, General, Probate, or Problem-Solving Courts to filter the videos by topic.Publications
Where are the Benchbooks? What are Quick Reference Materials? Isn’t there a Model Code of Conduct for Judicial Branch Employees? I wonder if the information that litigant just asked me is considered legal advice…Look no further! All of these resources are located under “Publications” on the MJI website. The Benchbooks and Quick Reference Materials (which, by the way, are a variety of checklists, flowcharts, tables, and benchcards) are located on separate pages. Much like the videos, you can also filter the Benchbooks by topic (or just select the one you want from the top menu). If you are looking for the model code of conduct or information about providing (or more aptly not providing) legal advice, visit the Resources for Trial Court Staff page.
Q&A
MJI has a Q&A page?Yes, there are actually 2 Q&A pages. There are Q&As on the topics of felony sentencing (specifically, scoring the sentencing guidelines) and the intersection of federal immigration law and state family law. Click on either page to see a list of recent questions that have been answered (expand the blue box to see the answer). And yes – you can filter the Q&As by topic as well. Just click on the drop down menu on the right side of the page.
Do you have a question about either of these topics? Click on the “Submit Question to Committee” button on either page to fill out a form with your question. MJI will respond shortly thereafter.