2008 Annual Report - Superior Court of California - County of Los ...

A Message
from the Presiding Judge
By any honest measure, the Los Angeles Superior Court
ended 2007 with many proud achievements. Our pride,
however is mixed with a certain degree of anxiety over
how we may be buffeted by budget issues in 2008.
That said, we are confident that, in addition to being the
nation’s largest trial court, we remain the nation’s finest. We
take pride in our broad approach to customer service that
ensures that we treat everyone who comes through our doors
with dignity and equity. The justice each customerseeks is the
justice that we strive every day to provide.
In this Annual Report, you will see a description of how our
system contains both the largest courthouse in California (the
Stanley Mosk courthouse in downtown Los Angeles) and also
the smallest — on Santa Catalina Island. In both, and in every sized courthouse in between, we
offer consistently excellent customer service because of our outstanding employees and
dedicated bench officers. Space does not permit a complete listing but, in 2007 alone, the Los
Angeles Superior Court:
■ Organized the first summit on judicial diversity ever held in Southern California. As
the issue of diversity became a subject of regular discussion in the judiciary and elsewhere,
our efforts were recognized and appreciated.
■ Expanded our customer services to a new level, opening three new self-help centers and
broadening the offerings throughout what is now a network of 11 such facilities.
Thousands of self-represented litigants were provided with new tools to help them
navigate the courts.
■ Received the coveted Ralph N. Kleps Award of the California Judicial Council for our
pioneer program, JusticeCorps, which uses trained university students as guides for selfrepresented
court customers. This program successfully provides court users with an
additional layer of access to the courts.
■ Expanded our programs to promote jury service by producing a brochure that will be
given to each of the hundreds of thousands of jurors appearing in our courts in 2008. The
publication provides jurors with some facts about the court system in an attempt to
further educate them about the Court.
■ Introduced a creative mobile juror-awareness campaign using court delivery vans as
rolling billboards. This resulted in positive statewide press for the Court about jury service
and helped to promote our dedication to juror services.
■ Responded successfully to wildfire emergencies at our Malibu and Catalina Island
courthouses, and made sure that critical court operations were maintained. Our disaster
planning guaranteed that interruptions during these traumatic events were handled
effectively and efficiently.
Los Angeles Superior Court Annual Report 3