Administrative Office of the Courts – Notice of New Criminal Competency Case Types

The New Mexico Judiciary is pleased to announce the planned January 1, 2026, rollout of new criminal competency case types and statewide standard operating procedures for processing competency cases:

What’s new? 

• The old “Lower Court Competency” (SI) civil case type will be disabled (although existing LCCSI cases will remain available to process) 
• Two new criminal competency case types will be available for all District courts:
• Competency – Felony (FI). 
• Competency – Misdemeanor (MI). 
• The FI and MI case types will:
• Not be automatically sealed, although specific documents and pleadings within the case will remain sealed, and a judge may still order the sealing of a case. 
• Be related to the underlying case. 
• Be available for subsequent e-filing through File & Serve, unless a judge’s order has sealed the case. 
• Be available online as a Tier 1 criminal case in re:SearchNM and Case Lookup.
• Those continuing to use Secured Odyssey Public Access (SOPA) will not be able to access these FI and MI cases. Please contact support@nmcourts.gov if you have any questions about a re:SearchNM account. 

At this time, all other proceedings for competency evaluations and restoration activities will remain the same. 

Second Judicial District Court – Court Closure Notice

All Offices and Divisions of the Second Judicial District Court will be closed briefly on Dec. 12. The Children's Court will be closed from 11:15 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. (MT). The District Court downtown location will be closed from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (MT).

New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners – New Mexico Bar Examination Survey

The New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners, with Dr. Paul Guerin, is conducting a survey about the New Mexico bar examination. We are interested in knowing more about the bar exam in New Mexico and how academic performance, law school experiences, bar preparation and exam experiences, as well as demographics, finances and employment, impact bar exam results. If you took the New Mexico bar examination between July 2017 and Feb. 2025, your input would be appreciated. Click the link below to learn about and then complete the survey. Thank you for your participation! If you have questions, please email guerinpaul@hotmail.com. If you have already received an email and have completed the survey, please do not resubmit your survey.

Please complete the survey by Dec. 26

Administrative Office of the Courts – Notice of Scheduled System Downtime – Dec. 12 - 15, 2025

Several judicial information technology applications will be unavailable due to planned maintenance starting Dec. 12 at 5 p.m. (MT) through Dec. 15 at 7 a.m. (MT). Below is a quick breakdown of what to expect:

Applications Unavailable

• SOPA (Secured Odyssey Public Access)
• Fully offline during the maintenance window.
• This system is hosted internally and will not be accessible until maintenance is complete.

Applications Staying Online (with limitations)

• re:Search NM 
• The site will remain available.
• It will not receive data updates from Odyssey (Case Management System) during the maintenance window. 
• eFile & Serve
• The eFile & Serve website will remain online.
• Odyssey (Case Management System) will be down, so users filing into an existing case will see the following message:

“Party and attorney information may not be current. It is still possible to E-file. (Odyssey will be unavailable).”

• New filings can still be submitted, but case data will not update until Monday morning.

We appreciate your patience while this work is completed. If you have any questions or issues, please contact the Service Desk of the Judicial Information Division: 505-629-3291 or support@nmcourts.gov.

Client Protection Fund – Notice of Commissioner Vacancy

One  Commissioner appointment for a three-year term for the Client Protection Fund will be made in accordance with Rule 17A-005 (B). The purpose of the Client Protection Fund is to promote public confidence in the administration of justice and the integrity of the legal profession by reimbursing losses caused by the dishonest conduct of lawyers admitted and licensed to practice law in the courts of New Mexico. The new term will begin Jan. 1, 2026. Applicants must be active members of the State Bar of New Mexico. Anyone interested in serving on the Commission should send a letter of interest and brief résumé to kate.kennedy@sbnm.org.

Inclusive Interview – Chrystian J. Gonzalez, Esq.