A small group of practitioners in your field of law, chattering away with the judges and commissioners who deal with your cases, about wishes and frustrations and all the recent courthouse changes...a dream? No, that was the scene at the latest annual King County Bench-Bar Conference, on November 4, 2004.

The whole point of this annual Conference is to share information and come up with practical suggestions. Here, we report on some of those suggestions.

Civil Law. The morning civil law breakout group had a lively discussion about the application of technology to current court problems, and included a Power Point demonstration of how e-filing looks and works. The feedback: back to the drawing board! The conference participants felt very strongly that the current e-filing signature procedure is so cumbersome that it discourages e-filing.

One of the next steps will be to consider adopting the more user-friendly federal system. Thanks to Judge Doerty, Colleen Kinerk and Barb Miner for leading this session.

Criminal Law. The morning criminal law breakout group also discussed the latest technology advancements, as presented by Mark Tackitt. Judge Carey then facilitated a discussion on Blakely and Crawford, two cases that have left attorneys with many unanswered questions. The group concluded “there is more to come...”

Judge Spector and Judge Kallas moderated an afternoon panel discussion including Mark Larson, Roger Goodman, King County District Court Judge Phillipson, Kim Gordon and Cheryl Snow. A topic of great interest was how criminal motions are handled here in King County. After many excellent suggestions from attorneys as well as judges, a task force was created to guide future improvements. To get involved, contact Greg Miller, chair of the KCBA Criminal Law Section.

Family Law. In the morning family law breakout group, led by Judge Halpert and Mark Weiss, the attendance included four judges, four commissioners, and one pro-tem commissioner! Everyone had lots to say about the recently-imposed page limits on family law motions.

The group also discussed uses and abuses of Ex Parte procedures. An outgrowth of this discussion may be the creation of a Code of Ethics for Ex Parte motions.

Another hot topic was the new GR 31 rules, which may allow internet access to court files. Some personal identifiers will now be redacted, but family law practitioners are also concerned about ability to seal or redact other sensitive or confidential information.

Discovery. The civil law and family law afternoon breakout groups dealt separately with the discovery topics that were addressed in a combined large-session panel discussion. The KCBA Judiciary and the Courts Committee’s proposals for limits on discovery, pattern discovery and early ADR are now wending their way through the King County Superior Court Judges’ Local Rules Committee. The large group heard from panelists Jennifer Shaw, Jeff Tilden, Brian Esler, Peter Ehrlichman, Judge Arm-strong, Mark Honeywell and Susan Shulenberger.

The civil law discovery breakout group supported the idea of limitations on discovery. Some participants noted that this would require attorneys to be more creative, and actually think about the questions asked. The group emphasized that pattern interrogatories need to be drafted by attorneys practicing in each specific area of practice. A pilot project for earlier mediation was favored, as long as judges enforce the rule. Judge Armstrong and Judge Lukens and Jennifer Shaw facilitated these discussions.

The family law discovery breakout group somewhat unexpectedly took off in a different direction on this topic: most of the participants supported mandatory financial disclosure forms, which might lessen the need for interrogatories and other discovery. To get involved on a committee on this issue, contact Mark Weiss. The idea raised concerns about pro se litigants’ ability to understand, or properly complete, such forms.

Early mediation is not always possible in family law cases, the group noted, where litigants sometimes need time to heal emotionally before they are able to deal with settlement offers, and where parenting evaluations are often delayed.

Approximately 70 comments were made by the various participants in this “hopping” one-hour session, ably led by Judge Dubuque and Susan Shulenberger.

State of the Court. Judge Trickey kicked off the Conference with his “State of the Court” address. A panel presentation then followed, including commentary by judges from the civil, criminal and family law departments. The panelists included Judge Doerty, Judge Theiler of the Federal District Court, Judge Halpert, Mark Weiss and Judge Robinson.

Programs throughout the day tapped the knowledge and experience of other courts, including the federal courts, Pierce County Superior Court, and King County District Court. Everyone enjoyed lunch together at the round tables, which facilitated discussion between experienced and newer practitioners, and bench and bar.

The Conference achieved record attendance this year. As always, there is frustration in not having enough time to fully discuss all the topics - yet thoughts get started, and task forces and committees get formed.