Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to address you today. These are
challenging times for all of us, including the Judicial Branch. And no
one better understands just how challenging these times have been than our
Governor, who we are honored to have here today. As an attorney and
former prosecutor, he also has a keen grasp of the issues that the court
system faces and we have greatly appreciated all that he has done on our
behalf.
I am also especially grateful to outgoing CBA President Barry Hawkins for
all of the outstanding work he did this year, both on behalf of the bar and
the courts and, finally, I would be remiss if I did not thank your executive
director, Alice Bruno, for her tireless work on behalf of the CBA.
At the outset, I want to mention that I am thrilled that the Honorable Paul
J. Knierim, the Probate Court Administrator, is this year’s recipient of the
Henry J. Naruk Award. When I appointed Judge Knierim to this position
in 2008, I was confident that he would be an outstanding administrator to
lead the probate courts through a complicated restructuring and I have to
say it was one of the best decisions we have made as an administration to
choose him. You have also made an excellent choice today.
When I addressed you last year, I spent the bulk of my time talking about
how the practice of law is changing and the influx of self-represented
parties. Along those lines, much of the message focused on what I hoped you
would do for the courts, in terms of pro bono service. Let me just say,
your response has been overwhelming and has already made a difference.
This year, I want to change course -- and talk about what you should expect
from us.
Put simply: not only do you but also we, need to take a hard look at the way
we do business, particularly in the area of civil justice. It is no
exaggeration to say that civil law, as we know it, is a very different
animal today than it was just a decade ago.
Late last year, the Connecticut Bar Foundation sponsored a symposium on the
vanishing jury trial where statistics demonstrated that, in fact, judgments
after a jury trial have decreased by almost 40 percent since 2004-05.
You might wonder what the data shows for court trials. Well, what it shows
is a trend in the opposite direction. Since 2004-05, the number of cases
that went to judgment after the commencement of a court trial has increased
more than 27 percent.
To put the data in further context, the total number of civil cases disposed
of, without any trial at all, have increased 36 percent since 2004-05.
So, we have the numbers in front of us, and the trend is clear: civil jury
trials are vanishing, and the manner in which business is conducted in
courts is changing. Coupled with that, the Judicial Branches across the
country are continuing to hear: the court system remains too expensive, too
cumbersome and too slow. And even if you haven’t uttered those complaints
yourselves, then I’m certain your clients have on occasion.
Interestingly, for a period of time the business community moved much of its
dispute resolution to private arbitration. They are now indicating a
willingness to come back if an effective and predictable mechanism to
resolve disputes is in place. For instance, instead of arbitration
clauses in contracts they are starting to include courtside trials without
juries as a mechanism for dispute resolution. The reason for this is
they have found arbitrations to be increasingly expensive and, even more
importantly, unpredictable because of a lack of precedent.
And, although our court system is founded on tradition and precedent for a
very good reason, we still need to find ways to remain relevant and
responsive to the people we serve. In other words, if we are to retain the
trust and confidence of the general public – and your clients – then we must
continue to evolve and work on better ways of providing justice.
I’m happy to report that we are making progress. Through the work of many
people – including many of you in this room – we have recently revised and
enhanced the Judicial Branch’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program.
The program is limited to civil non-family cases, and parties may now
directly schedule a meeting with a judge or they may complete and e-file a
court form that is available online. Previously, as many of you likely
experienced yourselves, attorneys had to fax a request to a central office
to schedule a mediation session. In addition, a list of judges who are
participating in the ADR program is now available on the website, and the
program’s webpage has also been redesigned.
While a new program, I can tell you that the response from the bar so far
has been very positive. Attorneys have said the new process makes it easier
to schedule matters, and they like the ability to e-file the Judicial Branch
form or to directly schedule a matter with a judge or staff. They report
that parties receive a quicker response, and matters can be scheduled
promptly and efficiently. The Judicial Branch is fully committed to
this program, as evidenced by the 28 participating judges.
We are also working towards a move to individual calendaring beginning with
a pilot program whereby one judge is assigned to a case from start to
finish. This is in addition to the already existing complex litigation
docket.
In the Waterbury Judicial District, we’ve implemented an individual
calendaring program, for civil non-family cases filed after Jan. 2, 2013.
There are currently three individual calendaring judges, and as of June 6,
600 civil cases have been assigned to those judges. The program is
available for all civil cases, except those matters involving property,
contract collections, administrative appeals, eminent domain and
receivership.
One important aspect of the program is that whenever possible the individual
calendaring judge who oversees the cases during discovery and scheduling
will also be assigned to the trial of the matter.
Once we have worked out the kinks, my goal is to expand individual
calendaring elsewhere. Our goal is that this program will result in
efficient case management and scheduling, and a greater understanding by
judges of the facts and issues in a particular case.
Another change we have made is having a specialized land use docket overseen
by Judge Marshall Berger. The goal of this special docket is to make
sure that these cases are receiving individualized and efficient oversight
so they can move along quickly.
Last Friday, the judges of the Superior Court approved another initiative
which will be a pilot program for limited scope representation in family
cases. This type of program has proven successful in other states,
benefiting both lawyers and individuals, and we hope it will work well in
Connecticut.
Finally, we plan to have a series of summits over the next several months
with the leadership of various bar groups, solo practitioners,
representatives from smaller firms and the private business sector to talk
about other changes to the civil system in order to receive your suggestions
about how we can do all of this better.
From there, we will develop a plan to reform civil litigation in a way that
ensures access while at the same time better meeting the needs of you and
your clients without sacrificing justice.
Before sitting down, I would like to thank one more person in this room.
Chief Court Administrator Barbara Quinn, whom you just honored last year
with the Henry J. Naruk Award, is retiring as Chief Court Administrator in a
few months, and it seems fitting to conclude with a few remarks about her.
As
Chief Justice, I’ve relied on Judge Quinn to manage the day-to-day
operations of an organization that has approximately 4,000 employees, a
budget of about $515 million for FY 14 and more than 40 courthouses
throughout the state where tens of thousands of cases are handled annually.
Keep in mind, too, the difficult economic situation Judge Quinn has
weathered for the last five years, the likes of which we’ve never seen
before. Throughout it all, Judge Quinn has had to make difficult and
unpopular decisions. At the same time, she worked hard at the State Capitol
to advocate for the Branch so that we would have adequate funds to fulfill
our constitutional mandate.
For those lucky enough to have worked with her, you know that a large part
of Judge Quinn’s success is due to her ability to forge positive
relationships with people, including many of you here. She is known for her
integrity and someone who keeps her word. Because of these traits, Judge
Quinn has worked effectively with the CBA, the Legislature, the Executive
Branch and other professional organizations. The results have
benefited the bench, the bar and, most importantly, the people we serve.
Did I mention to you that Judge Quinn also is modest? Well, she is, and I
suspect that she’s about ready to crawl under her seat if I don’t stop
talking about her. So, I would like to conclude with a huge thank you,
Barbara, for all that you’ve done -- as my stalwart and outstanding chief
court administrator and most importantly, as my loyal and treasured friend.
And to all of you, thank you for inviting me to address you today. It has
been an honor.