Greetings, I am writing the column this month to give KCBA members some insight into trial assignments and changes to our bench.
As Assistant Presiding Judge, one of my roles is to gather the chiefs of the various departments for a weekly meeting where we discuss the availability of courtrooms and where to assign trials. Each chief judge, Chief Criminal, Chief Civil, MRJC Chief, Chief UFC, Chief Juvenile, and Lead Dependency and Lead ITA, along with staff, meet once a week during the noon hour to compare notes, discuss length of trial and logistics of the cases, and which judges are available. Part of our calculus includes how many trial days are estimated, whether virtual or not, witness schedules including experts, interpreters, and any other logistics that would bear on the case. When you have your pretrial conferences with your respective judges, sharing this information is critical to land your case into an available trial court.
As you might imagine, this process was upended during the pandemic and we had to be flexible, week to week, until we could get new rules and procedures in place. Making necessity a virtue, the Court completely reinvented how it conducts hearings and trials; among other things, virtual hearings began in earnest and pop-up courtrooms in Bellevue were created.
Now that we are past the pandemic, we are again trying to understand what is the most effective way to conduct trials and continue to be an accessible court. We must remain flexible and nimble. During the pandemic we conducted over 800 trials, more than N.Y. and L.A. Counties combined. Today, when the trial assignment team meets, our goal is to ensure every courtroom is maximized so that all resources are utilized. We have a felony backlog in criminal cases that we are carefully monitoring. In March 2019 we had 3176 cases pending, and at the height of the pandemic, in March 2021, we had 6024 criminal cases pending. Thanks to the tireless work of the King County Prosecutor’s Office, the Department of Public Defense, and the Superior Court, we have brought down the pending cases in March 2023 to 4635. We still have a long way to go but much progress has been achieved.
We have also worked hard to get civil, family law, and dependency cases to trial. Because these cases lent themselves to be conducted virtually, the time to trial has been as consistent as before the pandemic. The virtual nature of these cases allows us and the parties to be flexible and to get the cases to an available judge almost instantly wherever they are sitting be it at KCCH, CCFJC, or MRJC. The availability of virtual jurors has meant we do not run out of jurors as we did prior to the pandemic. This flexibility has allowed litigants to get to trial and have their disputes heard in a timely manner. There is, of course, debate about the efficacy of virtual trials, but we are involved in conversations about whether court rules should be modified and to what extent. Every trial, we learn how to be more efficient in virtual or hybrid trials and what is the best way to utilize our resources.
As we evolve, you can be assured that the King County Superior Court will continue to work hard and be flexible so that all parties can have their day in court. That is fundamental to our mission. We believe in this principle profoundly and will be flexible and innovative to achieve this.
As part of our changes this month, Judge Steve Rosen has left our Court on May 14 and we wish him luck in his new endeavors. Judge Mark Larrañaga was appointed to that department and took the oath on May 15. Judge Larrañaga has 30 years of trial and appellate experience. His firm, Walsh and Larrañaga, focused on criminal defense, civil rights, and personal injury work. He has argued in both Washington and Oregon Supreme Courts, and worked with experts in psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, radiologists, forensics and jury consultants. In private practice, he litigated in multiple western states and was an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law from 2005 to 2018. Judge Larrañaga is a graduate from San Diego State University and Gonzaga University School of Law. Please join me in welcoming him to the bench.
As always, we welcome feedback and conversation on how our court can serve KCBA and the members of our community. Please reach out to further that conversation.
