VBA Journal

FAL 2012

The VBA Journal is the official publication of The Virginia Bar Association.

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;LEX EHZMGI HS ]SY LEZI JSV XLI RI\X KIRIVEXMSR SJ PE[]IVW# % I hope they will remember that the legal profession is indeed a profession … and to live up to the oath that they take, that they will honestly, faithfully, professionally and courteous- ly demean themselves at all times. Former Chief Justice [Harry L.] Carrico always called it an honored profession. And I agree with that. (IWGVMFI XLI JYXYVI ]SY WII JSV Virginia's courts. Te theme of Law Day this year that the American Bar Association is sponsoring is No Courts. No Justice. No Free- dom. It's been an emphasis of the American Bar Association that there is nationwide a crisis in funding in state courts. We are experiencing that in Virginia as well. I think it's becoming more difficult for state courts generally to provide the kind of access and justice that is expected. Te state courts handle I think it's over 95 percent of the cases filed in the United States. State courts are indeed the face of justice across the nation. It's important for our state courts to be fully functional and not having to cut back to the point that the access to justice is sac- rificed in some way. % :MVKMRME PE[QEOIVW XLMW ]IEV ETTVSZIH QSVI JYRHMRK JSV GSYVX WXEJ½RK % Obviously I'm pleased and the judiciary is pleased that the General Assembly decided to ultimately fill 34 judicial va- cancies. Eleven of those were funded last year but not filled; 23 [were] new vacancies. We went into the session knowing that there would be 48 va- cancies, which includes judges who have already retired or will be retiring at some point during 2012. While we would have liked to have seen all those vacancies funded and filled, we're nevertheless very pleased and appreciative of the General As- sembly's decision. When vacancies exist, we have to use more what we call substi- tute judge days. And so it affects the administration of justice. Courts can't be fully functional and fully operational. Te other big news for the judiciary is the funding for 61 staff members for district court clerk's offices throughout the Com- monwealth. Tis will enable the judiciary to bring up to 80 percent of model staffing almost all the district court clerk's po- sitions in the Commonwealth. While it doesn't get us to where we'd like to be in terms of staffing, it will certainly help reduce the overworked staff in many district court clerk's offices. 3R %TVMP XLI :MVKMRME 7XEXI &EV; ERH XLI :&% XIEQIH YT XS TVIWIRX ER %TTIPPEXI 7YQQMX EX XLI SJ½GIW SJ 8VSYXQER 7ERHIVW 004 MR 6MGLQSRH 'LMIJ .YWXMGI /MRWIV ERH SXLIVW WLEVIH VIQEVOW SR MQTVSZMRK ETTIPPEXI EHZSGEG] MR :MVKMRME Photo by Marilyn Shaw 8LI WXEXI FYHKIX MW JYRHMRK JSV E [IMKLXIH GEWIPSEH WXYH] VIGSQQIRHIH MR XLI judiciary's report on judicial boundaries. Where does that stand? Tat report I think highlighted that you can't make an intelligent decision about judicial boundaries in the Common- wealth without this kind of study when you don't just look at cases per judge but you look at actual workload. % We've already contracted with the National Center for State Courts to conduct the study. Tey've done that in the past few years for a number of jurisdictions across the country and they have the personnel and the expertise to do it. Te process is already started. Tere have been some preliminary meetings. I have just recently appointed an advisory committee (of judg- es and clerks at all levels) to meet with representatives of the National Center for State Courts to develop the criteria that will be used across the Commonwealth to be able to weigh the workload and the cases at the various levels of the Court. So we're excited about that. It'll take about a year and half to complete. I don't pretend to know what the results will be, but whatever they are I think they will help us to better know how to allocate resources in the future. Would you talk a little bit about technology and the courts? % 24 t VBA JOURNAL We're moving forward with technology. Budget cuts in recent years have slowed the progress on some of the things that we were working on. We're moving forward, though, with

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