Metropolitan News-Enterprise
Tuesday, September 23, 1997
Page 5
Pilot Program Seeks Court Improvement Through Use of 'Performance Audit' by Court Users
By P. PAUL O'DONOGHUE, Staff Writer
A quiet revolution with possible national implications is currently underway in the world's biggest court system--the Los Angeles Superior Court.
For the first time ever those who use the court--from litigants to judges, collectively described as "stakeholders" by the organizers of the Court improvement Initiative --are working together to make the system better for everyone.
The little-known pilot program is a collaborative effort of the Superior Court, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and USC's School of Public Administration.
The centerpiece of the initiative is a survey which is due to be undertaken shortly of some 3,000 people which USC will analyze and report on to LACBA's special Blue Ribbon Commission on the Court Improvement Initiative.
Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Parkin attributes the initiative to a collaboration between his predecessor as presiding judge, Gary Klausner, and the county bar association.
Parkin says funding problems about two years ago prompted the court
to examine its financial needs and how best to allocated its limited resources.
"For want of a better word, it's a performance audit of the court
by the users," he says.
Parkin, who became presiding judge at the beginning of this year, says one of his biggest concerns is how jurors are treated by the court system--including their accommodations at the courts, the amount of time they have to wait and the high demand for them.
The main body guiding the process is LACBA's Blue Ribbon Commission, chaired by Pasadena attorney and State Bar Board of Governors member John Collins of Collins, Collins, Muir & Traver, and comprising 18 other prominent members of the association including several past presidents.
In turn, that committee along with Parkin, Superior Court Executive Officer/Clerk John Clarke and two court administrators--Cynthia Banks and Darrel Parker--form an umbrella steering committee.
Collins calls the project a cooperative effort between the court and bar association that would "examine everything from the Coke machine up."
The latest in a series of three forums designed to elicit public input to the process is slated for USC's Davidson Center this afternoon from 3:30-7 p.m.
LACBA President David Pasternak, a member of the blue ribbon commission, said the American Bar Association had expressed interest in the project.
"It's historically unprecedented in this country," he says adding: "Out of all of this we expect a report late this year or early next year."
The Los Angeles Superior Court said citizens interested in information
on the initiative and this afternoon's forum at USC's Davidson Center should
contact the Public Information Office at (213) 974-5227.
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