Letter to Chief Justice : Response

August 5, 2011

Dear Mr. Hovey

I am writing in response to your letter dated June 30, 2011, which you addressed to Hon. Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice of California. As the director of the division that administers the Assigned Judges Program, the Chief Justice asked me to respond to your letter.

Your letter takes issue with the compensation paid to Hon. Jack Halpin, a member of the Assigned judges program. Please note, however, that the compensation of any retired judge sitting on assignment is set by state statute. (see Gov. Code, sec. 68543.7) Currently, the statutory rate of pay is $657.93 per day.

You also take issue with the fact that Judge halpin has sat on assignment as a member of the program for an extended period of time in the Superior Court of Shasta County. In addressing that issue, it may be helpful for you to understand the assignment process. Superior courts call in requests for assigned judges, and my division receives numerous such requests from courts across the state every business day. These requests usually com through what we call a "court contact" or "contact clerk." These are dedicated staff members in each of the superior courts who have among their duties the coordination of the courts assigned judge needs. When requesting an assigned judge, the court contacts are usually acting at the behest of their presiding judge or assistant presiding judge, the supervising judge of a particular court location or division, or the court executive officer (or his or her deputies).

Sometimes the request is for the assignment of a specific judge (e.g., a judge who has been assigned to the court in the past and is therefore familiar with the court staff, local rules, internal court procedure, etc.) and sometimes the request is more general (e.g., the court needs a judge adept at handling felony trials who is available for 60 days ). In making recommendations to the Chief Justice as to which of the program's approximately 400 judges to assign in response to a particular request, staff to the Assigned Judges Program considers numerous factors, including availability, expertise, geographic proximity to the requesting court, and of course the preferences of the court itself. That is, if a requesting court asks for a specific judge, staff to the Assigned judges Program will take that prefrence into account when making a recommendation to the Chief justice. Sometimes, if a retired judge is a particularly good fitin a court, that court-even through a series of successive presiding judges- will continue to request that judge be assigned. Particularly in these difficult budget times, such assignments can be very efficient, as they ensure that the court will not expand time and resources "training" a new assigned judge on the court's processes and procedures.

Thus, While we appreciate the points you have made regarding retired judges who on consecutive assignments in the same superioe court for extended periods of time, we also hope that you will appreciate the factors that go into our decision to recommend  such assignments to the Chief justice, e.g., the needs and preferences of the requesting court, efficiency and the resulting cost-effectiveness, and the like.

Lastly, I must address your statement that "retired judges are not held accountable because they are not under the jurisdiction of the "CJP". While it is true that retired judges sitting on assignment are not under the Commission on judicial Performance's purview, it certainly is not correct to conclude from that they "are not held accountable." Indeed, they are directly accountable to the Chief justice, who holds the judges in the program to the highest of standards of excellence. Indeed, the Chief justice has specifically tasked my division with reviewing every complaint and negative presiding judge evaluation that we receive on judges in the program. These reviews sometimes lead to full investigations sometimes result in appropriate disciplinary action, including in extreme circumstances removal from the program altogether.

I hope you find this information helpful

Yours very truly, Chad Finke
Director, appellate and trial court judicial services