2013 Annual Judges Conference New Orleans, Louisiana Court Governance Hypothetical 1: Personnel Management

Transcription

1 2013 Annual Judges Conference New Orleans, Louisiana Court Governance Hypothetical 1: Personnel Management The Bonaparte Parish District Court consists of 15 judges. The Chief Judge (CJ) position is selected based upon seniority. The bench, en banc, approves all administrative policies, including budget, facilities, and personnel. Court staff are judicial branch employees, but paid by the parish/local government. Each judge is assigned a Judicial Assistant (JA) that is selected and supervised by the judge. The court has approved a job description for the JA position that establishes the salary range for the position. In order to administer the court s budget, the judges have approved a hiring policy that requires approval by the full court to authorize a salary above the entry level for newly hired JAs. Upon hiring, all employees receive a copy of the court s Employee Handbook which has been approved by the court. The Handbook includes a section entitled Treatment of Employees, which states in part that all of the court s employees are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and in a manner free from verbal or physical harassment. The Handbook s definition of harassment includes conduct that creates a working environment that may be considered by others to be offensive. Judge Clueless recently interviewed and selected a new JA. Without the court s authorization, or assistance from the parish s Office of Human Resources, Judge Clueless provided an offer of employment to the candidate of his choice. The employment offer letter indicated a salary above the entry level salary approved by the court for newly hired JAs. The candidate accepted the offer. Judge Nameless s JA has held the JA position for over 15 years. Judge Nameless and Judge Clueless have chambers that share a common reception area where their JA s work stations are located. Judge Nameless s JA has repeatedly complained that Judge Clueless s JA makes

2 inappropriate advances towards her, including following her through the parking lot and making unwanted personal telephone calls to her after hours. Neither Judge Nameless nor Judge Clueless have addressed her concerns so she filed a written complaint with the CJ. The CJ appointed an independent investigator to evaluate the complaints. Upon receiving the investigator s report, the CJ convened an en banc meeting of all the judges. After discussion, the judges voted that Judge Clueless s JA should be terminated for violating the Treatment of Employees provision of the Handbook. Judge Clueless refused, stating that the JA is the judge s personal employee as a duly elected official and not an employee of the court.

3 Court Governance Hypothetical 2: Workload/Performance The state legislature, in accordance with the state constitution, establishes the number of judicial positions for each parish based upon an objective weighted caseload study, which is conducted every three years. Desiree Parish District Court consists of 25 judges who are separately elected in partisan elections. The Chief Judge (CJ) is elected by the court en banc for a two year term without term limits. The current CJ has served for six years. The court approved a policy for dividing its workload by case type, including a 12 month assignment for each judge. Assignment is determined by seniority; the most senior judge can choose his or her assignment but cannot be assigned to any one calendar for more than 36 consecutive months. Judges take turns selecting an assignment based upon seniority, with the least tenured judge choosing last. The court has agreed that the CJ should maintain workload measures, including tracking each judge s caseload. Cases are randomly assigned by the CJ. Judge Al Himers is the longest serving judge on the Desiree Parish District Court, having served for thirty years as a District Court judge. His seniority allows him to select his first choice for workload assignment. Judge Himers regularly chooses the criminal calendar based upon his prior service as a Prosecutor. Over the last 18 months, the CJ has received numerous complaints regarding Judge Himers performance. Multiple lawyers have threatened to report Judge Himers to the Judicial Conduct Commission. Many of the complaints involve the statewide Speedy Trial Standards. For example, two of Judge Himer s cases were recently dismissed for violation of the speedy trial rule. Although there is no state court rule regarding the role of the CJ for enforcing the statewide Speedy Trial Standards, the CJ approached Judge Himers about the concerns that have been raised. When the CJ met with Judge Himers to discuss the issue, Judge Himers refused to change his schedule or trial court routine based upon his belief

4 that he is an independently elected official who is not subject to the CJ s oversight or the court s directives. Meanwhile, the CJ is working with the Supreme Court of Louisiana to request that the legislature authorize an additional judge for Desiree Parish. Judge Himers refused to participate in the weighted caseload study that will be used to justify the need for the additional judicial position, skewing the results of the study. To complicate matters further, a representative from the local bar attended the legislative hearing during which the weighted caseload study was discussed. He alleged that it is customary practice for the judges to limit the number of hours they spend on the bench. His testimony suggested that an additional judicial position would be unnecessary if the judges would simply work a full day.

5 Court Governance Hypothetical 3: Media Relations The judges of Crawdad Parish District Court are selected in partisan elections. Judge Twitter was recently elected as the youngest member of the court. Judge Twitter ran a very successful campaign, utilizing the reach and convenience of social media to get out the vote. She campaigned on the promise to keep the public informed about matters being decided by the courts. Upon taking her seat on the bench, Judge Twitter continues to host a Facebook page and regularly discusses various issues with her Facebook friends. Many of Judge Twitter s Facebook friends are lawyers. In addition, Judge Twitter has attracted a large Twitter following of law students, since she is a popular adjunct professor of law at a local nationally-renowned university. The state Code of Judicial Ethics has not specifically addressed the use of social media by judges, causing a great deal of uncertainty about the appropriate use of social media by both the bench and the bar. Because of concerns raised by several lawyers who have visited Judge Twitter s Facebook page, the CJ has scheduled a full meeting of the court to discuss adoption of a court policy regarding the use of social media, including Facebook pages. Several judges have adopted the opinion that use of social media raises the possibility of violating Supreme Court rules prohibiting ex parte communications. Judge Twitter refused to attend the meeting, stating that she could not be part of a policy that limited the public s access to matters of public concern addressed by the court, in violation of her campaign promise. However, she sent a law clerk to observe the meeting. Dutiful Law Clerk tweeted the other judges comments live during the policy meeting on Judge Twitter s Twitter feed. In Judge Twitter s absence, the court adopted a policy restricting all judges from use of Facebook pages. As an independently elected official, Judge Twitter posted the court s new policy on Facebook and announced

6 her intention to continue hosting her Facebook page to alert the public to prominent matters of public concern. Court Governance Hypothetical 4: Press/Media Relations Letrec Parish District Court has five judicial positions. Judges are selected through partisan election. Each judge rotates into the position of Presiding Judge (PJ) for a 12 month term. By agreement of the court, the PJ serves as public spokesperson for the court. Recently, an investigative reporter for the local paper began a series of articles questioning decisions that various judges have made to seal court records. Because the article covers cases filed over a 15 year period, all five judges currently serving on the bench, including the PJ, have ruled on motions to seal. The PJ agreed to be interviewed by the local reporter to speak generally about the process the court follows in making these types of decisions. Based upon the state constitution s mandate that courts be open, the reporter hoped to demonstrate that the judges decisions to seal court records violate public access and create an appearance of secrecy. The interview aired on the local six o clock news. During his interview, the PJ incorrectly reported the number of motions that the judges have granted by using different timeframes than the reporter. Attempting to embarrass the PJ, and the court in general, the reporter wrote a scathing article accusing the court of purposefully deceiving the public in an attempt to hide its record. Annoyed by the article, Judge Clammer called a personal press conference to set the record straight. During the press conference, the reporter specifically questioned the decision made by the court to seal the records of Judge Clammer s contested divorce. Judge Clammer, outraged, refused to answer the question and immediately cancelled the press conference.

7 Court Governance Hypothetical 5: Inter Branch Relations Judges in the District Court for Emeril Parish are selected by partisan election. Each judge selects a court reporter paid from local funds. The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), under the direction of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, develops judicial impact statements for proposed legislation. During the current legislative session, Representative Dumont from Emeril Parish introduced a bill to eliminate court reporters and create a digital record of verbatim court proceedings. The House Judiciary Committee requested the AOC develop a judicial impact statement on the cost associated with passage of Representative Dumont s bill. Relying in part on a White Paper prepared by the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and adopted by the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), the AOC, with the approval of the Chief Justice, filed a judicial impact statement that includes a positive Cost Benefit Analysis. The analysis indicated that digital capture of the record would result in a $3 million dollar savings to local government. Based on this information, the District Court Judges Association endorsed the bill. Judge Delay s court reporter has worked with him for over 15 years. Judge Delay strongly opposes the legislation. Judge Delay is a law school classmate of Representative Tulane, who is the current Speaker of the House. Judge Delay calls Representative Tulane to schedule a meeting to ask Representative Tulane to block passage of the bill.

8 2013 Annual Judges Conference New Orleans, Louisiana Court Governance Hypothetical 6: Court Administration The Sawyer Parish District Court consists of 35 judges and one Chief Judge (CJ) elected by the court en banc for a two-year, re-electable term. Amy Sessions serves as Court Administrator for the Sawyer District Court. She is directly accountable to the CJ and selected by majority vote of the court as an at-will employee. Phil Gates is the court s Network Administrator reporting directly to Ms. Sessions. Mr. Gates provides direct network and technical support to the judges, the judges chamber staff, and the court employees at large. Ms. Sessions assigns his work and conducts his performance evaluation. The court, upon the recommendation of Ms. Sessions, adopted an Information Security and Internet Use Policy (Policy) for the court s employees. As part of that policy, all court employees are required to sign an agreement that they will abide by the policies. The policies state in part that All users of the Court s resources understand and agree that data, programs, systems, and procedures are property of the Court. The Policy also includes a section on Internet Use, Monitoring of Internet Usage, and Prohibited Activities: Internet Usage (Reads in part)... Employees using Court resources for access to the Internet during non-business hours are governed by these policies. Monitoring Internet Usage The Court has the right to monitor sites visited by employees on the Internet, monitor chat rooms, review material downloaded by employees, and review sent and received by employees. Employees should not expect privacy with respect to any information sent or received in such manner.

9 Prohibited Activities Material that includes sexually explicit, profane, obscene, intimidating, or otherwise inappropriate material may not be downloaded, accessed, displayed, or stored on Court computers. Employees inadvertently encountering this kind of material should follow the reporting procedures outlined in the employee handbook. Exceptions to this prohibition may be made for legitimate business purposes of the court. Such exception may only be approved by the Court Administrator. As part of the court s Internet security practices, a sniffer program was installed after notifying all employees that such software would be used to enforce the policy. Sniffer software regularly monitors all employees Internet communications and produces a monthly report to the Court Administrator. The report includes employee name, a list of Internet sites visited, and the length of time spent at those sites. All employees and new employees must agree in writing to abide by this policy as a condition of employment. Ms. Sessions has been concerned by the monthly reports reflecting Mr. Gates Internet activity. The reports show that for over three months Mr. Gates has routinely accessed pornographic websites during evenings and late into the night. His average visits to these sites are over 2.5 hours in duration for a total of 150 hours. Ms. Sessions approaches the CJ with the information regarding Mr. Gates Internet activities. While agreeing that the reports may indicate activity violating the court policies, the judges are very fond of Mr. Gates, including the CJ and Judge Apple. The Chair of the Court s Automation Committee suggests that even if Ms. Sessions is able to authenticate the reports, Mr. Gates is too valuable to the court to be dismissed. Ms. Sessions points out that the local Media has been conducting investigations of inappropriate usage of the Internet by public entities. She also notes that Mr. Gates is the Court s top automation person charged with enforcing the same policies he is alleged to have violated. The CJ and

10 Judge Apple agreed that Ms. Sessions should schedule a meeting with Mr. Gates before making a final decision. Ms. Sessions and the Court Human Resources Director met with Mr. Gates, who openly admitted that he violated the courts policy. When asked for an explanation, he responded that he was conducting tests of various search engines to develop a blocking system to protect the judges from inadvertently visiting pornographic sites. The activity was not authorized by Ms. Sessions or included in Mr. Gates performance plan. When asked why he remained on these sites for an extended number of hours after discovering the network vulnerabilities, he stated that they were rather interesting. Following the meeting with Mr. Gates, Ms. Sessions drafted a dismissal letter notifying Mr. Gates of his removal from employment with the court. The CJ declined to become involved but Judge Apple strongly disagreed with Ms. Sessions s decision and believes that Mr. Gates should not be terminated.

11 2013 Annual Judges Conference New Orleans, Louisiana Court Governance Hypothetical 7: Court Security The District Court of Bourbon is a general jurisdiction court comprised of 20 judicial officers located in a suburb county of a major metropolitan area. Bourbon District Court judges run for election in contested races for four year terms. The Chief Judge is elected by the members of the court to serve a 2 year term. The Bourbon District Court is experiencing rapid growth in caseload and population. Its judicial workload projection predicts that the number of judicial officers will double in the next 20 years and that the county population will approach one million during this same time period. One of the major issues facing the Bourbon District Court is lack of court security. Currently, 2 Sheriff s deputies patrol the public area and provide rapid response to security incidents in the courthouse. In addition, 21 court bailiffs (non-sworn with no law enforcement status) are assigned to each of the judicial officers. The court bailiffs all report to 1 supervisor. In addition to staffing limitations, physical security measures are also lacking. There is no entry screening or duress alarm system for the courthouse. Last year, the court commissioned an independent security study from the National Sheriff s Association, which recommended judge and staff training, uniform security procedures in each courtroom, and limited access to judicial chambers. As independently elected officials, some judges, including Judge William Wary, refused to follow the proposed procedures or require their staff to attend mandated security training. In addition, the Sheriff is facing staffing issues due to the growth within his jurisdiction (road patrol, jail overcrowding, etc). Providing court security ranks last on the Sheriff s budget priorities while additional funding is directed to other problem areas.

12 Recently, a number of people were wounded and one individual fatally shot by a defendant in one of the criminal courtrooms of the Bourbon District Courthouse. The defendant was wheelchair bound and smuggled a gun into the courthouse. The incident occurred in Judge Wary s courtoom