The fourth and final public hearing on the strain created on the civil justice system by a shortage of resources is set for today beginning at 11 a.m. in the Ceremonial Courtroom of Old County Hall in Buffalo. The hearing will be webcast live at www.nycourts.gov/hearings.
The hearings are designed to highlight the need for increased appropriations the Judiciary will make for civil legal services providers in its next fiscal year budget, beginning April 1, 2012. Testimony is by invitation only. Among those scheduled to testify today are Makau W. Mutua, the dean of the University of Buffalo Law School; Arthur A. Russ of Phillips Lytle, president of the Erie County Bar Association; Bryan D. Hetherington of the Empire Justice Center in Rochester and president of the Monroe County Bar Association; and Supreme Court Justice Paula L. Feroleto, chief administrative judge for the Eighth Judicial District.
