The Massachusetts Courts
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The Massachusetts Courts 1975 -1976 State Li a J Q l cr h ig h l ig h t s o f th e t w e n t ie t h a n n u a l r e p o r t As of June 30, 1976 The Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners passed a total of 1,346 applicants in Fiscal 1976, a 46 % increase over the 919 applicants passed ten years ago in Fiscal 1966. (page 40 ). In the Supreme Judicial Court the average number of days from entry to decision decreased 2 % trom 235 to 230 days. The caseload increased 11 % from 268 opinions to 297 and 7 % from 327 cases entered or transferred from the Appeals Court to 351. (page 42 ) In the Appeals Court total entries declined slightly from 875 to 819, although total opinions increased 13'^ from 256 to 289 and the average number of days between entry and consideration increased 42% from 251 days in 1975 to 356 in 1976. (page 42) The Superior Court made progress in developing the Court Case Management System and in improving its jury management. Analysis of progress in reducing pending cases compared to judge days available suggests a greater correlation between judge days and caseload reduction on the criminal side than it does on the civil side (pages 44 and 45 . Ten year comparisons of caseload and entries have also been made for each county ( page 78 ). Passage of legislation allowing District Court justices to be certified to sit in the Superior Court will be of great value in reducing pending cases in that court, (page 36 ) The Probate Courts made progress in uniform forms throughout the state in adopting monthly reports of cases including delay figures and in collecting support payments. Pre trial case marking procedures also promise to expedite judicial business in this court, (page 46) The death of Chief Justice Flaschner was a great loss for the District Courts and all our courts. The merit of his programs was proved by the commitment with which they were continued by many judges, clerks, probation officers and administrators throughout the District Court system, (page 48) Case scheduling in the Boston Municipal Court is a model for other courts, (page 49) The activities, organization and management by objectives process of the Office of the Executive Secretary are described at pp. 1 -7 ). A comparative analysis of many court reorganization proposals, including that advocated recently by the Select Committee on Judicial Needs, appears at pages 13 - 17. THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT to the JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT as of JUNE 30, 1976 John A. Fiske Executive Secretary H o! M3 A ^ IS JIM C-O-s Supreme J udicial Court for the Commonwealth 300 N ew C o u r t H o u s e B o s t o n . M assachusetts 0210s JOHN A. F iske executive secretary 617 227-2641 J o h n F. B u r k e February, 1978 OR Ro b e r t S. B lo om 617 742-9230 EXT. TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT There follows the Twentieth Annual Report of the Executive Secretary to the Justices, as of June 30, 1976. Written pursuant to G.L.c. 211, section 3F, the report describes the activities of this office and the progress and problems of the various Massachusetts courts and related agencies during Fiscal 1976. On the inside front cover appears the highlights. Unique features of this report include a comparison of five recent studies and recommendations to improve the financing, organization and administration of our courts (p. 17), a detailed analysis of county court expenses (p. 58), and five and ten year comparisons of work at the appellate and Superior Court levels (pp. 66 and 78). At the time of this writing there appears substantial reason to hope for legislation improving the financing and organization of courts. I hope the long overdue legislation will take advantage of the administrative progress made in our courts in Fiscal 1976 ana indicated in this also over due report. Executive Secretary TABLE OF CONTENTS Page HIGHLIGHTS......................................................................................................... Inside Front Cover ACTIVITIES OF THE O FFIC E.......................................................................................................... 1 COURT MANAGEMENT.....................................................................................................................8 FINANCING THE COURTS.............................................................................................................. 10 COURT UNIFICATION.....................................................................................................................13 COURT FACILITIES......................................................................................................................... 19 COURTHOUSE SECURITY.............................................................................................................. 29 THE MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIARY.............................................................................................30 MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIAL CONFERENCE..............................................................................33 COURT RULES................................................................................................................................. 35 MENTAL HEALTH LEGAL ADVISORS........................................................................................ 37 MASSACHUSETTS DEFENDERS COMMITTEE............................................................................38 BOARD OF BAR EXAMINERS....................................................................................................... 40 BOARD OF BAR OVERSEERS........................................................................................................40 THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM.................................................................................................................. 42 APPENDIX II: Statistics on Work Accomplished by the Courts in the Commonwealth........ 63 ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICE Established by 1956 statute to serve as “the eyes and ears’’ of the Supreme Judicial Court in administrative matters, the Office of the Executive Secretary to the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court functioned until 1970 primarily as a data gathering and reporting agency. Indeed, the statutes creating the office and setting forth its duties, G.L.c. 211, § § 3A-F, are stated in terms of inquiry, investigation, reporting and recommending. On this statutory basis and because of severe staff limitations, the office initially limited its activities to gathering statistics on court operations and finances formerly gathered by the Judic ial Council, to investigating complaints, to responding to inquiries with respect to the impact of proposed legislation on the courts and to the publication of an Annual Report including recommendations for the improved management of the Massachusetts courts. In 1970 and 1971, this situation began to change discernably. The statutory staff limit was increased by one position in 1970 and, in 1971, the office received the first of a series of fed eral grants permitting it by delegation from the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court to under take a broad range of activities in court management. At the same time, the trial courts began to develop and expand administrative offices of their own. As the activities and personnel of the office gradually expanded in response to a greater appre ciation of the need for an effective state court administrative office, a corresponding need arose to plan the development of the office and to take systematic steps to organize the office in pre paration for foreseeable additional activities. Chief Justice G. Joseph Tauro laid the basis for this task in his comprehensive Report of the Chief Justice on the Office o f the Executive Secretary to the Justices o f the Supreme Judicial Court, published in the spring of 1975. Pursuing the Chief Justice’s work, the Executive Secre tary engaged the consulting firm of Peat, Marwick and Mitchell in the winter of 1976 to assist in the development of a systematic process for organizing the office’s limited resources to meet the various current and likely demands upon it. The initial phase of this ambitious but necessary undertaking consumed a substantial amount of staff time during early 1976. The result was the adoption of mission, goals and result-oriented objective statements defining in order of importance the priorities of the office for 1977 and beyond. This management plan has been presented to the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court under whose supervision the office operates. In the context of flexible and growing demands upon the office as a state court administrative office, the Management by Objectives process is valid and particularly appropriate. It provides a method by which priorities may be weighed, tasks assigned, deadlines set, and accomplish ments measured. Most importantly, it provides personnel with supervisory and operational responsibilities a means of allocating resources in an intelligent fashion. The Management by Objectives process prevents an overextension of limited resources in response to an uncontrolled accretion of tasks and responsibilities, and provides the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court with an efficient system for informed supervision of the office. One thing is clear as a result of this process. In assuming responsibility for any new task, the office must carefully weigh its implications in terms of time and personnel and recognize that the acceptance of responsibility for any given task may well require