Irving Shapiro Submitted to the Institute for Court Management In
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A TRAINING CRITIQUE AND EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK -FOR-- M YORK STATE SUPREME COURT, KINGS COUNTY By: Irving Shapiro Submitted to the Institute for Court Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for cer- tification as a Fellow of the Institute. --TABLE OF CONTmTS I Training Critique , . Page Kings County 1 Objective of the Study Methodology The Court The Existing Training Sub-system Who Should be Trained 9 Recommendations 10 Ehployee's Handbook Introduction 1 Physical Plant 2 The Couyt's-Jurisdiction Administration of the Court 2 Health Insurance 6 Employee Organizations 8 Assignment of Judges 9 Administration 02' the State Court System 11 County Clerk, Kings County 14 Criminal Term 16 Calendar Clerk's Office 23 Trial Term Part I 24 Special Tern Part 8 2k Placing a Case on the Calendar 25 AssignmentSpecial Tern Bureau Part I 2933 Special Tern Part 2 35 Special Term Part 3 38 Special Term Part 4 40 Special Term Part 65 43 Special Term Part 9 46 Committee's Annual Accounts Special Term Part 7 48 Special Term Part 10 49 Special Term Part 11 50 Central Jury Part 52 Iaw Assistants 61 Court Reporters I- Law Stenographers 662 (contd.) '. .- - I Page 2. .._ . - TABLE OF CONTENTS (CON!TD.) hployee's Handbook (Contd.) Page Court Interpret e rs .- Supreme Court Library Property Clesk,.New York City Police De pa rtment 68 The Legal Aid Society 69 Legal Defense Panel for Indigent Defendants District Attorney Grand Jury . .. Probation Department - - ,- Surrogate I s ..Cour.t . Appellate Di.vision Appellate. Terms' ; - x .---x . A TRAINING CRITIQUE FOR . NEW YORK STATE SUPREME . COURT, KINGS COUNTY . 3y: Irving Shapiro Submitted to the Institute for Court . Management in partial . fulfillment of the re- quirements for certifica- . Eion as a Fellow of the . Institute. March 1974 . ' X- .. New York City is compased of five.boroughs, each constituting a'county'of the State. The Borough of Brooklyn is synonymous with the-County of Kings. At the south, Brooklyn is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Here the Verrazano Bridge soars across Gravesend Bay at the Narrows (the famous - ... marine gateway to New York Harbor), linking Brooklyn with Stateri Island (Richmond County). These two counties together form the Sec.ond Judicial District of the Supreme Court. Motorists on the Belt Parkway at this point'pass a sign noting that Brooklyn alone constitutes. the fourth largest --, .___ - -- city in the United. Stakes ._ . '.- -- -. Kings County 'is highly urbanized, with a population of approximately 2-3/4 million. -A large percentage of the population .is Ijlabk. ajld Puerto Ri'can. Kings County -8 There are;a number of communities, ea& having its.. distinctive... culture., and tending to separate the numerous diverse groups in the population. Some of the better-known _- areas are Flatbush, Williamsburg, Bay Ridge, Bedford- . - - - - . Stuyvesant, East New York, Borough Park, Coney Island and ._.--- Brooklyn Heights .- ___ - . - . .. The Bedford-StuyvesanC area includes one of-the ..-.- largest slum areas in the country, rivaling Harlem in density and in its concentration of problems. The Puerto Rican popula- tion, primarily locaced in Bedf brd-Stuyvesant , Williamsburg and East New York, has led to an increase in the court's . .- . .- .- - interpreting-staff, for-many in the Buerto Rican community are not Ehglish-speaking. I. Williamsburg'3.s home base for a large group of . -. I- Hasidic Jews, whose distinctive 'customs and attire set them .. apart from the larger J-ewish population found in Flatbush, Coney Island and other areas. Bay Ridge is .largely populated by Irish, Norwegians, ... Danes and Swedes. Brooklyn Heights. is khe _"downtom" area of Brooklyn, close to the Brooklyn Civic Center, with its large public and - private buildings land- dep'a&ment st6res; 1 ICs stately brown- stones have been in great demand recently, for many families ~- have recognized the comenience w3f"Jirlng within walking dis- tance of the New York financi'al diskrict and Brooklyn's own rich diversity of shops, restaurants and cultural attractions. The downtown Brooklyn area was the first urban renewal .. area in the United States;--the proJect having commenced in 1940 for the development of a civic center where the Supreme Court is now locaked. ~- Historically,.. -the old City of Brooklyn, now the down- town Brooklyn Heights and South Brooklyn areas, was the county seat of mngs County. In 1892, all six towns-in the County were __ - merged into the City of Brooklyn, and on January 1, 1898 the -2- City of Braok1yn"was rnerged'..%ntothe City of New York in the consolidation that set the.boundaries of the City virtually as they exist today. Objective of the Study ._ - .. - The objective of- the' attached study is to motivate- .- . --- .- our staff, and particularly new employees, by providing in . ..- written and'readily understandable form comprehensive informa- tion concerning the diversity and location of our court services, - _. the structure of- thisLcourt as14 -the State-.court system. The large volume of,court businew, the increased number of -- our employees, the diversity of our vrnious loc.ations, and a large turnover. 0%-personnel have resulted-in many em- ployees lacking in$omation and background-conc,erning anything more than their immediate duty assignment. Traditionally, it has been the practice to assign new employees to aparticular supervisor, and, barring my reassignment, the._ orientation -- of the individual employee is limited Lo the area in which his work is done. It is believed that greater efficiency and.s higher degree of motivation toward improved job performance will flow naturally from an in= formed employee -'one who is aware ,of the total role of the court and can relaf;...Us 0.m contribution to the total mission. .- .. of the court. .. In the three branches of.government it is by far the judicial branch which is the least visible to the public and -3- the branch about .which the public is least informed. The handbook, which is the end product of this work, -. should be-helpful -no-t orily--for our ovin staff,. but for the legal - communl%y and public-we serve. __ . Methodology The follow5ng methodologies were used: .Primarily, information was obtained by bterviewing-supervisors and heads of departments;. and based upon such interviews writt.en material was prepared.md submitted for verifica%ion and editwg to the department head. Thereafter, these supervisors reviewed por- -. tions of the manuaJ. applicable to-their work, and appropriate .. changes were made. Conferences were held as indicated uti1 .. a final accept.ab3.e draft was completed. The writer.. acknowledges his. appreciation to .this dedicated group of supervisors and department heads, who have universally exprkssea interest-'in the project and given in- . telligent support. This work is also based on the writer's interests and experience as"-a 25-year employee .of the New York court __ . system; experience:as a lawyer for many years; a professional -. teaching career in criminal law and court a-Wnistration extend- _. ing over a 15-year period and social and professional associa- ---.'-... tion with members of the court staff at every level. -- -4- The Court. The Supreme-Court, State of New York, Second _- Judicial District, is a part of the unified court system . ._ of the State. As a separate entity it constitutes one of -- - . ,,I the largest courts in the country. The courtls main premises ar.e in the 11-story Supreme Court. building in downtown Brooklyn . .. There.are 67 judges, about 650 employees, arid ai annual budget of approximately 17 million dollars... .. The Supreme Court is organized pursuant to New York State Constitution and statutes. It exlsts state-wide as the court of highest trial jurisdictlon. In New York. City most classified, c.ompetitive '-cTI)Urt employees take State Civil . ,-~ .C^ Service. examinations, but are paid by the City of New York. It is expected that. the State will soon assume the funding of :: .. the entire court system, state-wide, and proposds'to this - . -. .. effect. have been introduced in the Legislature for the past three .years. .It appears -likely that this year s legislative . session may see the passage of such a bill. It is ahdost axiomatic in the present situation, with the court operating as a State function but funded by an impoverished CiZy, that the court system in New York City will be disadvantaged in its budget as compared with the legislative . -. and executiPe branches..- Ass.umption by %he State of all court -. - -5- funding should improve the cou?tls status In this regard aad permit better budgetary and administrative practices. On the civil side of the courk, jurisdiction ex- tends to cases wheye the amount in controversy is in excess of $10,000, and exclusive -jurisdiction lies such matters as equity, condemnation and matrimonial; actions. On the criminal side of the court, jurisdiction ex- ists as to all crimes, but is chiefly concerned with the trial of felony cases. There ig 5 two3A+eP trial 'jurisdic61on in New York .--.- City courts with the New York City Cid. Court exercising lower monetary jurLsdiction in:civiL-mtt-ers, and the New York City Criminal Court exercfs-ing p-re1ihlhaz-y jurisdiction as to all criminal matt~rs-:arfdEOncurrent-.t2ial Jurisdction with this court as to misdemeanors. The diversity of services offered by the court is astonishing, and despite .the writer's long court experience, the compilation of the attached study demonstrated the diffi- . __ culty of assembling iri one place-a description of the court and its premises. The Existirig Training Sub-system Historically, the court has had relatively little to do with training. As the court's workload increased, chiefly -- in the decade of the 60%, the complexity of court work in- -6- creased.