Webinar Event: Article 81 Guardianships During COVID-19: Perspectives from the Bench

Mar 4, 2021 |
By admin

Webinar Event

Article 81 Guardianships During COVID-19:
Perspectives from the Bench

Webinar Recording

Webinar Transcript

When: Thursday, March 4th, from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. 

In March 2020, the courts in New York shut down except for hearings on essential matters.  While Article 81 guardianships were considered essential, in practice all but the most dire petitions and matters were put on hold while state and local courts were forced to change their court procedures and protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.  The ways in which court procedures and practices have adjusted to meet these changing conditions highlights long-standing challenges in meeting the needs of New Yorkers under guardianship and provides a unique window into the future of Article 81 guardianship.

Project Guardianship and LegalHealth (a division of the New York Legal Assistance Group) have founded the Coalition to Assist Limited Capacity New Yorkers, which is an Article 81 guardianship coalition designed to educate and inform stakeholders and laypersons about issues affecting the population guardianship serves, and gather information about ways the guardianship system could be improved.  The Coalition is sponsoring a four-part webinar series in 2021.  The first event in the series is a panel discussion with Article 81 guardianship judges from various jurisdictions in New York City. 

The panel participants will be:

  • Justice Lisa Sokoloff from New York County
  • Justice Ta-Tanisha James from the Integrated Part in New York County
  • Justice Lisa Ottley from Kings County
  • Justice Charles Troia from Richmond County
  • Justice Wyatt Gibbons from Queens County

The judges will share their knowledge on how their parts and the practice within the courts have been impacted by the pandemic, best practices that have emerged in light of our new socially-distanced reality, and their hopes and recommendations for the future.  The discussion will be one hour followed by 30 minutes Q&A, and will take place on Thursday, March 4th, from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.