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Judge Shannon McFee will join us at our January 11, 2021 program on ZOOM to talk about Unified Family Court (One Family – One Judge) where cases include custodial care matters, domestic violence protection, dissolution of marriage, juvenile dependency, juvenile delinquency, truancy, and adoptions. Yes, all of that can happen to one unlucky family, though rarely, one hopes. The 20^th Judicial Circuit established Unified Family Court to conserve resources and promote an efficient determination of the actions. The One Family – One Judge policy means that related cases are assigned to one judge or will otherwise be coordinated.

Judge McFee took the bench on February 3, 2020 and was hard at work presiding over Family Court cases when, six weeks later, the nation was thrust into the COVID-19 National Health Emergency. Never missing a step, he proceeded to hold “virtual” court with multiple parties participating from multiple remote locations. To get a feeling for what that is like, imagine that your fellow ZOOM attendees are parties to a trial procedure (lawyers, family members, case workers, more lawyers), each in their assigned box. Yes, it works.