VP's Corner - Are You Ready? Philip D. Hixon

Finally, it is December. We’ve entered the last month of 2020. Rhetorical question or not: Are you ready? It has been a memorable year for me personally andprofessionally—somefond,somenotsofond,afew categorically miserable, and a few worse than that. But it’s almost over! (Please note that the graying, grizzled mug in this month’s photo compared with the photo in prior issues is the result of a 7-year delay in updating headshots and not (entirely) attributable to 2020.)

ThedeadlineforCLEisloomingonthehorizon. Areyouready?TheTCBAhasafullcalendarofliveCLE events scheduled this month, beginning on December 1 with a Trial Skills Cross Examination Clinic (2 hr/0 hr ethics) and ending on December 18 with the Hon. Sharon Holmes sharing the secrets to “How to Keep Judges Happy” (2 hr/2 hr ethics).There are eleven other live events between these bookends, including another three opportunities to earn ethics hours: “Juvenile Law Day” on December 9 (5 hr/1 hr ethics), “2020 Annual Estate Planning” (8 hr/1 hr ethics), and “Legal Issues Facing Veterans with PTSD” (1 hr/1 hr ethics).

The holiday season is also in full swing.Are you ready? I suspect that many of you are in full-stride by now. (Someone in my household, who is not me or my sixth-grader, began Christmas shopping in September.) Unfortunately, there are many people in our community whoarenotreadyfortheholidays,especiallygift-giving holidays, through no fault of their own. If you or your firm haven’t already signed up for the TCBA Holiday Challenge, I encourage you to contact Lizzie Ritter to adopt a family, if it’s not too late, and if it is too late, please consider a cash donation, or take it upon yourself to find another worthy cause in the Tulsa community to help someone less fortunate. Construction on the long awaited interior remodel of the Bar Center is underway (or at least scheduled to be underway). Are you ready? Hopefully, when the remodel is complete, circumstances will allow us to return to in-person events at out spiffy, new Bar Center.

InmySeptemberarticle,Iclosedwithsomebrief comments on an electronic state court filing system. In the interim, I’ve had the opportunity to do some digging on prior efforts to stand up the state equivalent to CM/ ECF. The system has a name: Oklahoma Unified Case Management System (OUCMS). Beginning in 2007, the OCIS Revolving Fund fee, which is part of the case filing fee, was increased from $10 to $25, with the difference being designated (at least initially) for the OUCMS. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has engaged in two rounds of rulemaking. In 2012, the Supreme Court published rules (SCAD-2012-36, 2012 OK 61) establishingapilotprogram.In2013,theSupremeCourt amended its rules (2013 OK 67, 2013 WL 3729211) to incorporate specific provisions for the OUCMS, which remain part of the current rules. See, e.g., Okla. Sup. Ct. R. 1.1(e), 1.33(a)(1), 1.36(d)(1). According to a Tulsa World article from April 2014, the OUCMS was supposed to be implemented in four counties by the end of 2012 and statewide by autumn 2015. Statewide electronic filing:Are you ready?

We’llhavetowait for electronic filing, but I’llkeepsnoopingastime permits. Until then, take care, Merry Christmas, and happy holidays! See you in 2021.