Rule text
a. Open Court Requirement. All trials, hearings of motions and other applications, first appearances, pretrial conferences, arraignments, sentencing conferences (except with members of the probation department) and appeals shall be conducted in open court unless otherwise provided by rule or statute.
b. Contemporaneous Transmission of Testimony. Upon application in advance of appearance, unless otherwise provided by statute, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location for good cause and with appropriate safeguards.
c. Sealing; Settlement Conferences. If a proceeding is required to be conducted in open court, no record of any portion thereof shall be sealed by order of the court except for good cause shown, as defined by R. 1:38-11(b), which shall be set forth on the record. Settlement conferences may be heard at the bench or in chambers.
d. Robes. Every judge shall wear judicial robes during proceedings in open court, including those conducted pursuant to paragraph (b).
Notes
Note: Source - R.R. 1:28-6, 3:5-1 (first clause), 4:29-5, 4:118-5, 7:7-1, 8:13-7(c); amended July 14, 1992 to be effective September 1, 1992; amended July 16, 2009 to be effective September 1, 2009; amended July 27, 2018 to be effective September 1, 2018; text redesignated as paragraphs (a) (c) and (d) with captions added and text of paragraph (d) amended, and new paragraph (b) adopted July 30, 2021 to be effective September 1, 2021; paragraph (b) caption amended August 5, 2022 to be effective September 1, 2022.