By Judge Ketu Shah
Greetings, I am writing my first column as King County Superior Court Presiding Judge. First, I want to thank Judge Oishi as our former Presiding Judge. He led our Court as we came out of the pandemic and led us through many twists and turns. We ramped back up to deal with the backlog of cases but also pivoted during flare ups of the virus. He worked with KCBA to get us back to doing in-person swearing in ceremonies for new attorneys and our first in-person bench-bar conference since the pandemic. His December column discussed all that was accomplished during his tenure, so I won’t duplicate that, but what I am most appreciative of is how inclusive he was with me and our entire Court. For that, I am very grateful and I know our Court is very grateful for all that he has done.
As I write this, the holidays are approaching, and many of you have taken time with your family and friends. I hope you find yourselves rejuvenated, but I know the holidays can be both relaxing and exhausting. Many of my colleagues took time in December but are now eager to start 2024. January is typically a very busy month for us as a trial court. Many attorneys are ready to begin the year with their trials, and often we have many lengthy trials starting. We are eager to have these trials come to our Court; often, very skilled and energetic attorneys have spent years preparing their cases for trials. In many ways, getting a case to trial involves a massive amount of time and planning to line up the schedules. A colleague once mentioned a trial is similar to getting a symphony ready for opening night. All the logistics to get a complicated performance to open seem flawless, but as we know, there are hours of practice, planning, and thought for opening night.
In our Court, we have similar unsung heroes behind the scenes who get cases to trial. We have court staff that work on jury summons, answering juror questions, responding to emails, and ensuring bus vouchers are provided. We have interpreter services that coordinate myriad languages, so every party, witness, or participant has access to our courts. Interpreter services’ work includes hunting for available interpreters who have the time and experience to assist a trial, ensuring qualifications are maintained, and providing audio equipment. We also have an army of court clerks who maintain the court record, maintain minutes, create electronic court records, and preserve exhibits. I understand from one clerk that recently there was a trial that had 60,000 exhibits! We have bailiffs who help communicate with the parties about court schedules and shepherd jurors. There is IT support to make virtual jury selection possible (a big innovation from the pandemic that is wildly successful according to jurors). We have managers and directors that set policies and move pieces around to ensure our constitutional priorities are met when trials do not happen as planned. We have chief judges who coordinate and prioritize which trials get sent to our trial judges.
As you can see, there is an expansive infrastructure that comes to bear to ensure your case can have its grand opening . . . the first day of trial. There are many more folks I have not mentioned but I want to thank all for their efforts to serve the Court and the public. The next time you see court personnel, I encourage you to thank them for all they do for the rule of law. It is critical for the civil functioning of our society. In the coming months, I will continue to speak about how important this infrastructure is, and how you, the bar association, can help ensure this infrastructure is maintained. We will have budget challenges in the coming months, and I will ask for your support and ask you to voice how important it is for us to maintain a well-funded court.
We also have some departures. Judge Mary Roberts will be leaving our Court for well-earned retirement. She has been a leader on our Court for over 20 years, having served in various roles, including most recently as the Drug Court Diversion Judge and Assistant Presiding Judge. Judge Roberts has been the epitome of the professional, sage, and kind judge. She was a law clerk bailiff back in the day, and in her time, the bailiffs did everything including taking robes for dry cleaning and typewriting orders. She paid it forward and hired several law clerk bailiffs and fortunately her law clerk bailiffs had different tasks that were more relevant to the practice of law. Many of us go to her for questions about court history, procedures, and good sound life advice.
Judge Chad Allred is also leaving the bench. He spent almost 10 years on the bench in various roles and has been one of our trusted judges to handle complex civil and criminal cases. We will miss both of our colleagues and wish them success in their next journey.
As always, we welcome feedback and conversation on how our Court can serve the King County Bar and the members of our community. Please reach out to further that conversation.
