District judges’ duties to remain same — for now

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

Against the wishes of most District Court judges, the current specialization system -- with some judges handling criminal cases and others handling civil -- is going to be the way judicial business is conducted in Clark County.

At least for the next six months.

In a letter from Chief Justice Robert Rose to Chief Judge Lee Gates, it was quietly announced that the state Supreme Court isn't ready to make any major structural changes in the District Court.

The problem has been that under the current court structure about half of the judges handle civil cases and the other half handle criminal, but about two-thirds of the cases filed are civil and they are much more time consuming.

Criminal case judges often leave the courthouse early while civil judges frequently stay late.

Fueled to a great extent by the disgruntled judges handling civil cases, the district judges last month petitioned the Supreme Court to return to a system in which judges handled both civil and criminal cases and split the time they earmarked for trials.

They also wanted to give some judges the option of continuing to specialize.

Three-quarters of the judges signed the petition to change the system but that show of support was contradicted by a survey of lawyers in which two-thirds of respondents advocate the current system of specialization.

It will be up to the Supreme Court to formalize a system for the future, and Rose said in his Nov. 4 letter that the justices want to take their time and do it right.

"All of us believe we need more information concerning how the proposed plan will work in operation and we must be shown how the assignment of judges will match the workload," Rose stated.

While he said the district judges' petition, passed a day before last month's public hearing, is "a good framework from which to start, ... we would rather consider any plan of this magnitude as part of a long-term solution."

For the moment, Rose wrote, the disparity in workload can be adjusted by increasing the number of civil judges and reducing the number of criminal judges.

Rose noted that District Judge Michael Douglas has agreed to transfer from the criminal side to the civil, in essence reducing the caseloads of the other civil judges by about 12 percent.

In addition, Rose said, senior judges will be assigned to help process civil cases and provide short-term relief for the system until a final decision can be made.

He gave the judges until April to submit a plan for the long-term structure of the court.

While a return to combined court calendars is advocated by most judges -- giving greater control over their daily operations -- court-gathered statistics show specialization has resulted in more trials and more cases being resolved more quickly.

"We're more productive than we've ever been," Gates told the justices at last month's hearing.

District Attorney Stewart Bell and Clark County Public Defender Morgan Harris also advocated specialization.

In the letter, which was approved by the entire Supreme Court, Rose said the high court "would hope that the overall accomplishments of the present system can be duplicated in any new system."

"Our hope is probably like yours," he wrote. "We would like a plan of operation that is supported by a majority of the district judges and permits an equal division of the workload."