Mar., 2011 - Mecklenburg County Bar

From The President
A. Todd Brown
MCB President
What to Do?
Each February, the looming CLE
deadline puts a premium on meeting
space at the Mecklenburg County Bar
Center. A good problem to have for our
CLE apparatus. So it was last month that
the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Board of
Directors found itself without a meeting
place. Senior Resident Superior Court
Judge Richard D. Boner and Chief
District Court Judge Lisa C. Bell quickly
came to the rescue, however, securing
space for us in our ultramodern courthouse facility, which delighted
us. But one particular aspect of the judges’ “state of the courthouse”
reports to the board regarding courthouse personnel has lingered
with me. Judges Boner and Bell lamented the continued adverse
impact to Mecklenburg County’s judicial system as a result of the
state’s budget deficits, the latest projected at a whopping $3+ billion,
but then added this new twist: In late January 2011 all Senior
Resident Superior Court Judges, Chief District Court Judges, Clerks
of Superior Court and District Attorneys received notice to
commence implementation of a Voluntary Reduction in Force Plan.
After a careful and comprehensive examination of options, the
North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts was
recommending immediate implementation of the plan in the field, in
part because no assurances can be made about the availability of
funding for the payment of severance packages to eligible employees
who reject a voluntary separation option now but who are
involuntarily separated later. Because our courts have long endured
budget cuts, there was concern that this new plan could prove not
only demoralizing but also potentially devastating to court personnel
and operations alike.
Mecklenburg County’s judicial district is the state’s largest and
most complex. Part of its mission is to provide fair and accessible
justice to the community. A review of recent statistics for and
affecting the Mecklenburg County court system demonstrates the
need for more instead of less resources:
• North Carolina ranks second to last in the number of judges per
capita (1.2 FTE per 100,000 population).
• North Carolina ranks 50th in the percentage of justice system
funding spent on courts.
• North Carolina ranks fifth in the number of incoming criminal
cases per 100,000 population.
• Mecklenburg County logs approximately 18% of the Violent
Crime Index and approximately 14% of the Property Crime Index
in the state (2009).
• Mecklenburg County is home to roughly 10% of all North
Carolina citizens, but receives roughly 7.68%* of the Judicial
Branch budget (*based on FY 2008-09 FTE positions).
• Mecklenburg County processes 9.9% of all filings and
dispositions in the state (FY 2008-09).
Past MCB President Pat Kelly observed in 2009 that more than a
million paper files exist in the Clerk of Court’s Office and that there
are roughly 200,000 new filings per year, yet our courts must rely on
an outmoded paper filing system that is prone to delays, errors and
lost information.
With a projected budget deficit in the billions and corresponding
reductions mandated for virtually every level of state government,
our local judicial system is not likely to experience material funding
increases any time soon to address any of the issues above. One
federal judge appropriately has remarked, “the [federal] courts’
workload and the resources provided to handle that workload are
headed in opposite directions.” Ditto for the Mecklenburg County
state courts. This dismal state of affairs threatens the Mecklenburg
County court system’s commitment “to working collaboratively with
the community to prevent and solve problems to enhance the
quality of life for all.” So, for many, the immediate implementation of
the Voluntary Reduction in Force Plan may well prove the last straw.
The consequences of constant budget cuts are at hand. Our
judges and our public interest lawyers, who discharge
constitutionally and statutorily mandated duties daily, can do more
with less for only so long. Increasingly, court operations will begin to
suffer. Will we start to lose our most experienced judges? Will funds
to pay prosecutors, public defenders or court-appointed counsel for
indigent defendants become unavailable? Will funds to pay jurors in
civil and criminal trials run low or run out, throwing into jeopardy
the availability of trial by jury? Invariably, budget shortfalls will force
court-support agencies to scale back operations as well. For
example, will supervision decrease for offenders who could pose a
risk to public safety? Only time will tell.
What to do? Let us commit, as ordinary North Carolinians in
these extraordinary economic times, to assist Mecklenburg County
courts and public interest attorneys in the pursuit of justice. Our
country’s history is replete with stories of ordinary Americans, at
extraordinary times, who took strides to protect and defend our
basic, inalienable rights. The rule of law is central to those rights. As
practitioners in Mecklenburg County courts and as citizens who rely
on the judicial system to uphold the rule of law, we have a
responsibility to help secure fundamental rights. As members of a
noble profession, we are obliged to ensure that our courts remain
effective guardians of those rights.
As a state agency, the MCB is prohibited from supporting political
or ideological causes. But its mission permits advocacy for matters
related to the regulation of the legal profession. Indeed, the MCB
mission statement compels it “to serve the public and the Bar
continued on page 4
2 March 2011 www.MeckBar.org