Miscellaneous

Does Size Matter?

By Anne Skove, Esq.

We often hear about judicial workload studies. Court staff are subjected to the same microscope. But what about the administrative offices of the courts (AOCs)?

Most are comically small and understaffed. Those bear little mention and deserve support from any corner. But at least one, California's, is being criticized as too large.

Just what does an AOC require in the way of staffing? Certainly a court administrator to head up the thing. That person could probably use an assistant or two. A PIO is nice -- you never know when something big is going to happen (say, a courthouse shooting or a small jurisdiction suddenly becoming venue for a notorious trial), and somebody has to be able to drop everything. Legal counsel, a finance/budget crew, IT, and HR round out the essentials. If possible, toss in a few analysts and stats people. The biggest programs (ADR, e.g.) need a director.

Does it matter how large the state is? Does it matter that the state consolidated its trial courts in the not-so-distant past? Does it matter that the state bar was once dismantled by a former governor, leaving the courts to pick up the pieces? And does it matter that the state is the Golden one?

California is famous for killing ideas with the We're too big excuse. They've taken it to a new high -- We're California. Read: whatever it is, it won't work here. Geography, population, and an overabundance of starlets work against intervention.

Ironically, a high level of innovation (which California courts often possess) can kill yet more innovation because We're already doing that. Hare, meet tortoise.

Because they're so big, so unique, so...California, the AOC often works on its own. For example, the need for interpreters was greater and more quickly recognized, causing the state to concoct its own testing scheme (much later, it joined the Consortium).

Being a lonely pioneer is a costly adventure. Hooking into national resources -- even if you're too big or too far ahead of the curve -- saves time and effort. These days, particularly in states where the governor is selling autographed memorabilia to raise money, maybe too big is just too much.

See Critics Target California's Courts Bureaucracy, Howard Mintz, Mercury News (August 30, 2009).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on August 31, 2009 (boomark / email).