January is the natural time to look ahead, make plans and set goals for the new year. On January 14, the Executive Committee of the King County Superior Court (KCSC) met to set priorities for 2008. And on a broader level, the Court has undertaken a review to revitalize and refocus on its Strategic Plan — an effort that was last undertaken in 1995.
Along with the selection of the author as the new presiding judge, Judge Helen Halpert was elected as the assistant presiding judge. The new chief judges are: Judge Cheryl Carey (chief criminal judge); Judge Phil Hubbard (chief Juvenile Court judge); and Judge Brian Gain (chief judge for the Regional Justice Center). Judge John Erlick will continue as chief civil judge and Judge Jim Doerty will continue as chief judge for Unified Family Court. Other members of the Executive Committee include Judges Jim Rogers, Jeff Ramsdell, Michael Trickey, Laura Inveen, Ron Kessler and Deborah Fleck, who replaces Judge Linda Lau, recently appointed to the Court of Appeals.
The Court faces an exciting list of challenges and opportunities. After more than three years of planning, and with the help of many KCBA members, 2008 is the year the Court will finalize a proposal to build a new courthouse for families and children. The existing Juvenile Court building at 12th and Alder in Seattle is at the end of its useful life. After a flood, broken elevators and serious maintenance deficiencies, the County Facilities Division has concluded the building needs to be replaced.
We have now developed a new vision that will allow us to address juvenile and family law cases in one new courthouse — large enough to provide the legal and social support services that these cases require. While our proposal for this new building will receive intensive and appropriate review and scrutiny by the County Council and executive, our Court is justifiably optimistic that if we can all successfully communicate the need for this new building, then the necessary broad public support will be there.
At the national level, spearheaded by the National Center for State Courts, new tools have been developed to evaluate the performance of court systems from the vantage point of practicing attorneys and a variety of other different perspectives, including jurors, litigants and our employees. This new focus on self-evaluation of our court as an organization is referred to as “Performance Measures” and the particular methodology developed by the National Center is called “CourTools.” KCSC is committed to implement Performance Measures. If you use any of our services this year, we hope you will become involved in our evaluation efforts through our Performance Measures outreach.
Another serious challenge facing our court is the security risk of working in our old historic courthouse in a world with domestic violence, threats against judicial officers and mass public shootings by disturbed people. Last year, the U.S. Marshal for Western Washington conducted a security audit of the courthouse, which confirmed it has serious vulnerabilities. To the credit of the County Council and executive, some new funding was added for security late last year, but the challenge of making the courthouse safe for all who use it has not yet been fully met.
Making matters worse is the high level of illegal activity near the courthouse, including drug dealing and other unsanitary and aggressive behaviors. Because lawyers clearly recognize the importance of a safe courthouse to the administration of justice, the continued involvement and interest of the KCBA in courthouse security will be critical in 2008.
Last but not least is the ongoing issue of adequate court funding. The county’s budget office has sounded the alarm that the county’s fiscal crisis will reemerge in planning for the 2009 budget. Faced with target budget reductions for 2009, the separate branches of our county government will need to make some hard choices about priorities, budget cuts and service reductions, and potential new county or court revenues.
In sum, 2008 is unlikely to be dull for our Court. We will likely see the departure of several veteran judges and the appointment and election of new colleagues. A 53rd judge will be elected to begin serving in 2009, making King County Superior Court one of the largest general jurisdiction courts in the country.
While the challenges are real, our judges, court commissioners and dedicated staff will be working very hard to deliver the highest caliber of judicial services that the public has every right to expect. To make sure that 2008 is about turning those challenges into opportunities, we will need your continuing cooperation, constructive criticism and support. If any KCBA members have questions or comments about the operation of KCSC, whether positive or negative, please feel free to contact me at bruce.hilyer@kingcounty.gov.
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