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Vol. 11, No. 10 November 2015
Civil Rules Rewrite Out for
Review
In September, the Arizona Supreme Court-appointed task force reviewing
the rules of civil procedure invited approximately two dozen interested parties
to review and comment on the latest draft of the proposed rule changes. Lawyers,
legal support staff, law schools, committees, court representatives and others
were asked to review and provide input before the task force drafts a rule
change petition for the cycle that begins in January. The task force’s final
product will likely result in some rewording of every rule for style and, where
appropriate, to conform to the recently restyled federal rules. For more
information, visit the Arizona Judicial Branch’s website at www.azcourts.gov. Click on “Court
Admin/AOC,” “Committees & Commissions,” and “Task Force on the Arizona
Rules of Civil Procedure” for meeting information and materials, links to
rules, and other resources.
Office Closures in November
The Clerk’s Office will be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015 for the
Veterans’ Day holiday and on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 26 and 27 for the
Thanksgiving holiday. The Superior Court and Clerk’s Office in Maricopa County
remain open on Columbus Day in October in exchange for closing the Friday
following Thanksgiving.
During office closures, civil and tax (TX type) case filings can be
submitted through www.AZTurboCourt.gov.
Criminal and Family Court filings can be submitted through the Clerk’s eFiling
Online website at http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/efiling/default.asp.
If e-filing is not mandatory, documents can be submitted at one of four external
filing depository boxes around the Valley. A list of locations is online at http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/alternative_filing.asp#External.
Saturday Hours Results
The Clerk’s Office opened its downtown Phoenix Customer Service Center
for four hours on Saturday, Oct. 24 to issue marriage licenses and process
passport applications. The non-traditional hours offered a new opportunity for customers
struggling to visit during regular business hours. The Clerk’s Office figured Saturday
hours would assist passport applicants who missed something the U.S. State
Department required for a passport, requiring those customers to come back to
complete their application process. The downtown location processed 39 passport
applications on Oct. 24, compared to a full-day average of 34 at that location.
The Office will continue looking for customer service improvements and will advertise
those events on the Clerk’s Twitter feed, @MaricopaClerk, and on the Clerk’s
Facebook page under “Clerk of Superior Court in Maricopa County.”
National Adoption Day
The public is welcome to attend this year’s free Adoption Day event from 9
a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 at the Juvenile Court Center located
at 3131 W. Durango St. in Phoenix. Judges, clerk and court staff, former
participants, families, and others well-known in the community carry out and
attend the event each year, which has been the largest of its kind in the
country for several years. For questions regarding this year’s adoption event
and for more information, see the Facebook page for the Maricopa County
National Adoption Day Foundation.
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