Cite as 2014 Ark. 235 SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
IN RE 13TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, DIVISION 4—APPROVAL FOR DIGITAL ELECTRONIC RECORDING
Opinion Delivered May 15, 2014
PER CURIAM Circuit Judge Robin Carroll of El Dorado, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Division 4, requests permission from this court, pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 4(e), to use digital electronic recording to make the official court record. Judge Carroll has submitted this request because his court has been without a regular court reporter for several months, and efforts to fill the position have not been successful. Administrative Order No. 4 permits the use of digital electronic recording in the circuit courts under special circumstances, such as presented here, upon request to, and approval by, the supreme court. Pursuant to Administrative Order No. 18, digital electronic recording may be used by state district judges who are presiding over matters pending in the circuit courts. The use of digital electronic recording is also permitted in many state and federal courts throughout the country. See the National Center for State Court’s publication, Making the Record Utilizing Digital Electronic Recording. 1
1 Lee Suskin, James McMillan, and Daniel J. Hall, Making the Record Utilizing Digital Electronic Recording, National Center for State Courts (September 2013), http://www.ncsc.org/services-and-experts/court-reengineering/~/media/files/pdf/services%20an d%20experts/court%20reengineering/09012013-making-the-digital-record.ashx (archived at https://perma.cc/BLC5-2NTV)
We grant this request for a one-year period. The use of digital electronic recording in Judge Carroll’s court shall comply with Administrative Order No. 4, the Administrative Office of the Court’s Provisional Guidelines for Digital Audio Recording, 2 and the terms set out in Judge Carroll’s “Proposal for the Use of Electronic Reporting in the 4th Division of the 13th Judicial Circuit of Arkansas.”
2 Administrative Office of the Courts, Provisional Guidelines for Digital Audio R e c o r d i n g i n S t a t e D i s t r i c t C o u r t s ( J u l y 1 , 2 0 1 1 ) , https://courts.arcourts.gov/sites/default/files/tree/guidelines.pdf (archived at https://perma.cc/6LE7-YMUT).