News from the Regional Justice Center

The Regional Justice Center (RJC) in Kent has now been open for a little over seven years, and in that time the Court has strived to make justice and the justice system more accessible to the parties, lawyers, witness and general public.

Ours is a very busy court, with 15 judges, three commissioners and over 75 staff employees. Last year, 9,338 civil cases and 3,428 felony criminal cases were filed at the RJC. Over 1,000 civil domestic violence petitions were filed here, and over 1,700 non-offender juvenile matters (Dependencies, Termina-tions, ARY/CNS) were heard at the RJC.

Currently, Judges Deborah Fleck, James Cayce, Jay White and Laura Gene Middaugh serve as our civil department judges, Judges Catherine Shaffer, Michael Heavey, Brian Gain, Greg Canova, Ronald Kessler (Assistant Chief RJC), George Mattson and Richard McDermott serve as criminal department judges, Judges Michael Spearman, Phillip Hubbard and Joan DuBuque (Chief UFC) are our UFC judges, while our Commissioners include Bonnie Canada-Thurston, Eric Watness and Marilyn Sellers.

Effective September 13, 2004, Judge Shaffer will transfer to a UFC assignment, to be replaced in the criminal department by Judge Douglas McBroom. Judge DuBuque will continue to serve as UFC Chief Judge, but will transfer to the downtown Seattle courthouse.

One of our biggest challenges is travel time to the RJC from other parts of the county. As someone who drives every day to the RJC from Seattle, I can attest that it takes somewhere between 35 and 70 minutes to travel from downtown Seattle to Kent (and if a major accident occurs on I-5, all bets are off). The upside, of course, is that there are a growing number of lawyers, parties and witnesses living in the south end of King County who now do not have to fight their way into Seattle to conduct much of their court business.

Another challenge facing us at the RJC is parking, or more particularly, the lack of on-site parking during certain peak hours. When the RJC first opened seven years ago, there was ample parking in the garage and any overflow was easily accommodated in the nearby Borden Play Field lot. However, the RJC is in many ways a victim of its own success, and demand is such that parking can be very tight indeed for jurors, attorneys and litigants arriving between 9:30 am and noon.

The problem will worsen for a time with the closure of the Borden lot in connection with a major mixed-used development across James Street later this year. That development, Kent Station, is an exciting commercial-retail project that will eventually include a large Cineplex, a satellite campus of Green River Community College, retail establishments, restaurants and office space. Thanks to the forward-looking leadership at the City of Kent, the Kent Station project promises to significantly benefit our RJC employees and the general public. While that project is under construction, however, overflow parking will be diverted to the Kent Municipal parking lot to the south, on the corner of Fourth and Smith.

The RJC was designed to better connect the judicial and legal system with the community, and, with the help of many partners, the Court is working hard to provide innovative programs for the public. Last spring, the Washington State Supreme Court heard oral argument in three cases at the RJC. Hundreds of citizens, including students from five south county high schools, were able to attend. With generous support from the South King County Bar Association and then-President Tim Edwards, a plasma television was provided in the rotunda so that even those members of the public unable to make it in to the courtroom could watch their Supreme Court in session.

Additional public outreach activities are planned for later this summer. On July 12, 2004, a panel from Division I of the Court of Appeals will hear oral argument on several cases at the RJC, and the Judicial Conduct Commission will conduct an open public disciplinary hearing the week of August 16.

A wide variety of other public events are conducted at the RJC. This past year, the Court’s annual Thurgood Marshall celebration and State of the Court address were held in the RJC rotunda.

The Court enjoys an excellent relationship with the South King County Bar Association, and SKCBA now conducts regular CLEs and dinner presentations at the Court for its members. Speakers have included our Presiding Judge Richard Eadie, King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, and King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. And for the past two years, the Court’s annual National Adoption Day celebration (complete with dozens of happy adoptees, smiling families, the Mariner Moose and Mariner’s catcher Dan Wilson) has been held at the RJC.

Lastly, the Superior Court now offers Drug Court at the RJC on Friday mornings. Under the leadership of Judge Richard McDermott, certain drug offenders are offered the chance at treatment and rehabilitation. We are excited about this recent expansion of the program to Kent.

With your help and the help of many others, we hope to continue to expand our programs and continue to provide the level of service and accessibility you have come to expect at the RJC. n