FROM THE JUDGES DESK Didn't see that coming

Didn't see that coming!

Last year, I wrote my very first “From the Judges Desk” article for the Dayton Bar Briefs in my new role as a Common Pleas Court Judge. As I’m sure you’ll recall (insert laughing emoji), it was entitled “Resilience.” When I wrote the article in December 2019, for the February 2020 issue, we had just endured a tragic year involving the Memorial Day Tornadoes, the mass shooting in the Oregon District, and the murder of Det. Jorge DelRio in the line of duty, just to name a few. My very last sentence expressed hope and resilience for 2020.

Oh 2020… we didn’t know what you had in store for us. Let’s recap a few of the noteworthy buzz words of 2020 that entered our vocabulary on a daily basis: Novel Coronavirus, Covid-19, unprecedented, new normal, pivot, social distancing, self-isolation, flatten the curve, remote learning, zoom, essential workers, working remotely, global pandemic, Fauci, and of course, quarantine. The latter word makes me shudder. Having experienced this on multiple occasions with my school-aged children, let’s just say I would prefer to eliminate this word altogether from our vocabulary.

In a recent email exchange with our superintendent of schools, his response to one of my many questions ended with, “[w]e will try to give parents as much runway as possible…” That was a new one! The runway analogy really stuck with me though. What I found was the runway we’ve been given throughout this pandemic has, at times, been extraordinarily short, causing us to have to pivot on a dime. Still other times, the runway was never ending, with no real way to take off or end the flight and with no direction on what to do next. We had to just keep moving forward and hope that solid direction materialized and provided guidance to take off or end the flight early.

Eight months into my tenure as a judge, we had to pivot almost immediately, embrace technology to the greatest degree, learn on a dime how to conduct hearings remotely, safely conduct jury trials, socially distance in the courtroom, and learn to speak clearly through a mask and plexiglass screens. Hats off and bravo to the attorneys who adapted and

By The Honorable Mary E. Montgomery Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas mary.montgomery@montcourt.oh.gov| 937. 225.4055

overcame so many obstacles to keep the wheels of justice turning and moving forward down the proverbial runway. From conducting depositions via Zoom and learning to screen share with experts, to criminal defendants and their counsel using the Court’s remote technology to appear virtually in the courtroom for a variety of hearings, including pleas and sentencings. We are all creatively learning and adapting quickly on the runway we’ve been given. Sometimes it’s been bumpy, other times smooth and still other times, we’ve gone off the runway altogether. But somehow, we’ve all managed together to pull ourselves back up, get back on the runway, figure out a new way of doing business and truck forward. So I guess 2020 was all about being resilient; resilient in the face of unprecedented obstacles and maybe, just maybe, we have found a way to thrive in our new normal. Those buzzwords of 2020 have a way of creeping into our everyday vernacular now without even trying! Carry on Counselors! You’re going a great job. Reach out if you need anything because, “we’re all in this together!”.