CBJ - August 2011 #01. Budget cuts hit home.

AuthorBy Nancy McCarthy Staff Writer

California Bar Journal

2011.

CBJ - August 2011 #01.

Budget cuts hit home

The California LawyerAugust 2011Budget cuts hit homeBy Nancy McCarthyStaff WriterStanding before a room full of reporters, native San Franciscan Katherine Feinstein lamented the state of the courts she calls her professional home. "This is the saddest and most heart-wrenching day in my professional life," the presiding judge said, as she announced the layoffs of 200 superior court employees. The cuts are devastating to employees, will cause significant damage to the economy of the Bay Area and are "tremendously harmful to the public," she said. "This is just not right. The ones who need our help the most will suffer."

The layoffs, which include 11 court commissioners and hearing officers, cut across all divisions and will hit clerks the hardest, but also will affect human resources, finance, technology support and legal staff. They will "for all practical purposes dismantle our court," Feinstein said. "The civil justice system in San Francisco is collapsing."

Although the city may sustain more severe budget reductions than other courts in California in the next fiscal year, none of the other 57 counties will escape the harsh impact of the state's budget woes.

San Joaquin County, along with San Francisco one of the hardest-hit counties, will no longer hear small claims cases and plans to close two courtrooms in Lodi and its courthouse in Tracy. Some employees of the Alameda County Superior Court, including court reporters, have been told they may receive official layoff notices in five weeks. Shasta County is cutting hours, including trimming one court's schedule from five days to one. Sacramento County is considering laying off a quarter of its court workforce. And Riverside County plans to close some of its more rural courthouses.

But most county court officials haven't yet figured out how they are going to deal with the cuts. Some, unlike San Francisco, still have significant reserves to blunt the effects of the cuts this year and so may be able to absorb the current fiscal reductions. But, as Feinstein told the Judicial Council at its meeting last month: "San Francisco may be the first trial court to fall, but I know that others are soon to follow. And I know you know that, too."

Los Angeles County Presiding Judge Lee Edmon probably spoke for many...

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