BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle is asking state lawmakers to add three new judgeships and additional court employees to keep pace with increased workloads caused by the state’s oil boom.
 
     The chief justice made his appeal Wednesday in his State of the Judiciary speech to a joint session of the North Dakota House and Senate.
 
     VandeWalle says the state has “reached a crisis point where judicial services are suffering.” He says the shortage of judges and court employees in western North Dakota’s oil patch is affecting court systems statewide.
 
     The chief justice says case backlogs “drive up local incarceration costs, put the rights of accused in jeopardy, impact businesses’ ability to operate and damage families.”

 

 VandeWalle says some rural counties have little or no access to legal services.
 
     VandeWalle announced Thursday that three internships for law students will be made available to address the shortage.
 
     The chief justice says 21 of North Dakota’s 53 counties have fewer than four attorneys. He says four counties in North Dakota have no attorneys at all.
 
     VandeWalle says the internships will be with judges chambered in communities that have fewer than 15,000 people.
 
     He says the goal is to show new lawyers the benefits of living and working in small communities.