CARSON CITY -- Faced with a case filing increase that will grow by an estimated 15 percent this year, the Nevada Supreme Court has embarked on a number of paths to more efficiently handle appeals while still guaranteeing fair and deliberative hearings to litigants.

The court is looking at everything from changing civil settlement procedures to borrowing good ideas from other courts to improve its case management computer system.

Some changes already have been made. More results should be seen in the coming months as recommendations are finalized and rule changes are enacted by the court.

"We've been looking at how we process cases," said Chief Justice Nancy Becker. "We're trying to identify where the blockages are; whether it involves attorneys or parties not complying with court orders in a timely fashion.

"We're looking at how to better process cases involving children; child custody and parental termination cases," she said.

"The goal is to be able to keep up with the increasing caseload volume while still devoting significant time to precedent-setting cases," Becker said.

The court needs to streamline the appeals process where possible so it can continue to focus as much time as possible on precedent-setting cases, she said.

Reno attorney Bob Eisenberg, who works primarily at the appeal level in front of the state Supreme Court, said the most important move made by the court was to form a bench-bar committee to look at ways to improve the effectiveness of the court.

The panel, which includes judges and attorneys, met for the first time a few weeks ago and generated a healthy discussion, he said.

It will be a while before specific rule changes come out of the effort, but the result should be concrete recommendations to help the court deal with the explosion of filings and cases, Eisenberg said.

"I'm very optimistic," he said.

Nevada's seven-member court handles about 2,000 routine cases a year, along with another 100 to 150 precedent-setting cases, which are referred to as "published" opinions used by the legal community for guidance on various issues.

Most other states have an intermediate appellate court to handle many routine cases. An effort to get voter approval of such a court in Nevada failed in 1992. The 2005 Legislature has authorized another study of the idea.

But with the creation of an intermediate court of appeals close to a decade away at best, the court has to be more efficient where it can, Becker said.

Some of the issues being examined by the court include:

j Closer scrutiny of appeals filed by individuals on their own behalf.

A rule change already has been approved by the court requiring such litigants to fill out a form saying exactly what they believe was in error at the District Court level and what should be done to fix it. The court can then rule more quickly in the case.

j Bunching groups of similar cases together so they can be dealt with at one time.

There might be several construction defect-type cases on appeal with similar issues, for example, and the court would pick the case with the best potential for resolution in a published opinion. The other, similar cases could then be disposed of more efficiently based on that one opinion.

j Working to improve the court's existing case management computer system.

The court has looked at various systems used elsewhere, including a visit by justices Bill Maupin and Jim Hardesty to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to see how that federal appeals court handles cases.

The state Supreme Court is also just about to send out a request for proposals for a system that would allow the electronic filing of documents.

j Improving the way settlement conferences in civil cases are handled.

The process is intended to mediate resolutions to disputes, and the court wants to ensure the process is not abused by those who would use it to delay cases. New rules are expected from the court soon.

Ed Kainen, a Las Vegas attorney and past chairman of the family law section of the state bar, said any efforts to expedite the resolution of family law cases would be welcome because situations for families can and frequently do change.

"People's lives go on while a case is on appeal," he said.

Becker said the more complex family law cases will still take more time to resolve. But routine cases should be handled as quickly as possible, she said.

Kainen said he is impressed with the interest the entire court has shown in trying to improve family law proceedings.

The rules of civil procedure don't always apply to family court cases, he said. Maupin is looking at the rules to see where they need to be changed to reflect the unique circumstances of these types of cases, Kainen said.

"If family law cases can be made better, it will be better for a family caught in the Family Court, and better for those lawyers who work in Family Court," Kainen said.

Becker said civil cases are becoming increasingly complex, and more cases are generated as the Legislature enacts new statutes to deal with various issues.

The increasing number of ballot questions sought by various groups is adding to the burden as well, she said.

"We need to look at how we can best deal with these matters with existing resources," Becker said.