Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Inaugural Quarterly Update from Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner
April 2024

When Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) Executive Director Stan Bissey approached me about our interest in providing quarterly updates to the readers of LACBA’s newsletter, I jumped at the opportunity. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Court) greatly values our partnership with LACBA. We are proud to have the opportunity to work collaboratively with LACBA on an issue that we all care deeply about – providing meaningful access to justice. I am honored to provide LACBA’s large and diverse membership with the first of many updates on current issues related to the Court and recent innovations implemented in the first quarter of 2024.  

BUDGET CONCERNS

California finds itself in a precarious fiscal position in the next fiscal year, with competing budget shortfall projections from the Newsom Administration and the Legislative Analyst’s Office ranging from $38 to $73 billion. As a state-funded institution, we are carefully watching the budget process unfold in Sacramento, paying close attention to any impact on the trial courts.

Governor Newsom’s initial budget proposal released in January addresses the budget shortfall with cuts to judicial branch funding that is referred to as “one time” funding as compared to ongoing funding. We are grateful that the Governor’s initial proposal has no cuts to baseline trial court funding. We remain hopeful that the preservation of baseline funding for the judicial branch will remain in the revised budget the Governor will release in May based on updated revenue projections.

Between now and July 1, when the final budget must be passed, the Court looks forward to collaborating with LACBA, along with our partners in the judicial branch, justice partners and members of the legal community, to advocate for continued sufficient funding to enable the Court to continue providing fair, timely and efficient resolution of all cases.

ADVOCATING TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE

The Court Reporter Crisis
Last year, over 332,000 hearings took place in our court without a court reporter or electronic recording to capture what occurred, leaving litigants without a verbatim record of the proceedings and severely limiting, if not extinguishing, their right to appeal. Simply put, no record, no justice. 

While the Court continues our aggressive court reporter recruitment and retention campaign to retain our existing court reporters and fill over 100 court reporter vacancies, the incentives, which include signing and retention bonuses of up to $50,000, competitive student loan forgiveness and a generous $25,000 finder’s fee, have not made a dent in resolving the problem. Since announcing our recruitment and retention campaign last February, 19 court reporters have left court service and 12 court reporters have joined court service, resulting in a net loss of seven court reporters. The Court is eager to hire court reporters, but there simply are not enough court reporters available to be hired.

A recent report released by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) confirms what courts across California have been saying for years – the current crisis is untenable and unsustainable. The report notes that 44 California trial courts spent $20.3 million on recruitment and retention efforts in 2022-23 with “limited impact on bringing new hires to the courts in the short run.” In addition, the LAO report states that despite these expenditures, “the reported number of court reporter employees departing has continued to outpace the number being hired.” In fact, as the report indicates, the number of court reporter vacancies has only grown, with those vacancies growing statewide from 152 positions in July 2020 (about a 10% vacancy rate) to 400 positions as of July 2023 (a 25% vacancy rate).

The solution is obvious – we must be allowed to leverage technology to address the crisis. Senate Bill 662 – Courts: Court Reporting would have done just that. It would have expanded the Court’s authority to electronically record proceedings in all civil cases, including unlimited civil, family law and probate cases, but only when a court reporter is unavailable. Our partners at LACBA worked collaboratively and tirelessly with the Court to raise awareness of the bill and vigorously advocate for its passage. Despite our best efforts, legislators in Sacramento did not share our sense of urgency to address this significant equal access to justice issue, to the detriment of the hundreds of thousands of low- and even moderate-income and self-represented litigants who are currently leaving proceedings in which life-altering decisions are made without any verbatim record.

The solution is not what some labor groups are suggesting – eliminating the ability for private court reporters to be hired to report civil court proceedings. This ill-conceived suggestion would no doubt ensure that even more litigants would be without a verbatim record because it is unlikely that this would result in a sufficient number of court reporters to return to or seek court employment to address the need.

We are deeply appreciative of LACBA’s efforts in spotlighting this issue and advocating in favor of passage of SB 662 alongside the Court and other constituents. 

Remote Proceedings
Also on the Sacramento front, the Court’s authority to conduct remote proceedings continues to be the subject of yearly debate among lawmakers. This is despite the significant time and cost-saving and hassle-avoiding benefits of appearing remotely (e.g. not having to pay for transportation or childcare, not having to take the day off of work, etc.) and a recent survey of court users conducted by the Judicial Council which found that 96% of court users had a positive experience with remote proceedings. Governor Newsom has proposed language to be included as a Budget Trailer Bill that would eliminate the current sunset dates on the Court’s authority to conduct remote proceedings. We are grateful for the Governor’s leadership on this issue, and we look forward to working with LACBA membership to ensure we are able to continue to offer this convenient and efficient means of participating in our justice system.  

 

ADDRESSING RECURRING JUDICIAL VACANCIES BY BUILDING PIPELINES OF SUCCESSORS

Like other courts throughout the State of California, our court continues to struggle with unusually high judicial-vacancy rates due to judicial retirements and other factors, with detrimental effects on the distribution of judicial workload and the timely resolution of cases, especially and notably in the Civil Division. At the time of this writing, our Court carries 20 judicial vacancies with 17 more expected by the end of 2024.

The Court continues to actively engage in innovative programs like the Court’s Judicial Mentor Program to broaden the pipeline of judicial candidates to ensure that the Governor can meet his goal of appointing a bench that reflects the rich and diverse communities we serve.

The next Judicial Mentor Program event, titled “What's Really Stopping You From Applying? Part II: LA County Judicial Officers Discuss How They Overcame Deterrents and Hurdles to Become a Judge;” is scheduled for Wednesday, April 17. Attorneys who are interested in joining the bench are encouraged to attend this free virtual workshop by registering here in advance of the event.

IMPROVING EFFICIENCES THROUGH TRANSFORMATIVE INNOVATION

The Court is committed to harnessing the power of transformative innovation to improve the efficient management and resolution of all cases. To that end, we have initiated new programs and changes in how we do business to facilitate access to justice.

Stanford Partnership:
Recently the Court launched a groundbreaking new partnership with Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and Legal Design Lab. The unique partnership among the Court, Stanford’s leading legal scholars and undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines will examine and identify barriers to full participation in the judicial system. The primary focus will be on case types with high percentages of self-represented litigants, including UD (eviction), debt collection and child support actions. The goal of the partnership is to raise participation rates and empower court users to more easily navigate complex and often life-altering legal proceedings. More on the new partnership here.

New Criminal Case Management System:
In November 2023, the Court “retired” the case management system (CMS) used in our Criminal Division for nearly 40 years. We replaced it with a modern and dynamic CMS that will more effectively meet the needs of our 21st century court operation.

The implementation of the new CMS involved the conversion of approximately 3.7 million cases, among many other complexities, making it the largest implementation of a single litigation CMS in the world. Eventually the new CMS will enable the Court to accept electronically filed documents in criminal cases and make access to electronic criminal case files available at public kiosks and through the Attorney Portal.

The successful implementation is the result of tremendous effort on the part of over 1,000 court staff, judicial officers and others, whose meticulous planning over many years was critical to the successful implementation of the new CMS.

Alternative Dispute Resolution:
Most cases settle prior to trial, and the Court is exploring ways to leverage affordable and accessible Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and settlement opportunities to provide timely and efficient access to justice. Currently, the Court is developing an ADR Office to encourage early resolution of civil cases whenever possible, with the goal of developing a panel of volunteer mediators for civil cases and the possibility of expanding to other litigation areas.

The success of our ADR operation will rise and fall on the dedication and expertise of lawyers who are willing to volunteer to help parties settle cases. We recognize the knowledge and expertise of members of LACBA and look forward to working with all of you to provide access to ADR opportunities facilitated by the Court. 

Court Reservation System Changes:
The Court also recently implemented a change to our Court Reservation System for civil cases to enable parties to easily find motion reservation availability which will result in motions being heard sooner. As a result of this change, a motion reservation will be automatically canceled within three court days of the date the reservation was made if the moving papers have not been filed. We anticipate that this change will free up motion slots and, as a result, ensure more timely consideration of motions and certainty in civil litigation.   

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It is the honor of a lifetime to preside over the largest and most influential trial court in the nation, working shoulder-to-shoulder with the dynamic and diverse membership of LACBA to improve and expand access to justice for residents of Los Angeles County. I have the honor of leading the Court when the presiding judges in all five Southern California counties (the five largest courts in California) are women. I am appreciative of their support and am emboldened by our shared dedication to working together to provide access to justice. I am also grateful to work with an exemplary team comprising subject matter experts and bold leaders who are deeply committed to thinking expansively about how to achieve the mission of the Court, including Assistant Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II and Executive Officer and Clerk of Court David W. Slayton. I look forward to continuing to provide LACBA membership with quarterly updates regarding the challenges we face together and to identify opportunities to leverage innovation and collaboration to improve and expand equal, timely and efficient access to justice for all.