Bench/Bar Update

BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE REPORT By Damien Banks

On July 8, 2021, the Bench Bar committee met in person in the Judicial Conference Room in the Circuit Court. Deborah Thomas called the meeting to order as the new chairperson and all of the members introduced themselves.

Harry Chase moved to approve the minutes from the last meeting which the members approved. Administrative Judge Ruth A. Jakubowski reported that the Circuit Court is in a much better place than in March 2020. Jury trials are going well with Jury selection continuing at the American Legion. The court’s lease runs until October 1, 2021, and the plan is to stay through that time. The hope is to return to the courthouse following the lease expiration. They will be monitoring the COVID numbers to determine whether the return. Masks and social distancing are required at American Legion based on Judge Barbera’s order.

Trials have also been going well. 17 Criminal juries have been selected. 7 of the cases were resolved, 8 went to verdict, and 2 trials are ongoing. On the civil side, 8 trials went to verdict, 19 settled prior to jury selection, and attorneys postponed 6. 7 courtrooms are currently in use (4 criminal and 3 civil). Settlement court is shift back to in-person settlement conferences for civil and family on October 18 with an option to request remote. Judge Jakubowski is working on the policy for remote now. Mediation for family law will be remote by default. The statistics are high for resolution by remote hearing. In-person conferences will be held on request. The Visitation Center is open, and they are slowly letting more people in. If you wish to take advantage of the services, please contact the Office of Family Services. Judge C. Carey Deely, Jr. is going to be retiring at the end of September. The circuit court bench will be down 2 judges since Judge Kathleen G. Cox’s position is also open. They are trying to bring back senior judges to operate at full capacity. Family law cases are going to trial and are not all going to standby. Priority is being given to criminal cases. Cases are on standby because Family was being set into 2022, so they were pulled back and doublebooked to avoid later trial dates. Magistrates are doing standby settlement conferences with success. Assignment sends the standby list to Magistrates the day before and they try to settle the cases. They are no longer getting pre-assigned dockets weeks in advance. Instead, the docket comes the day before. For last-minute remote hearings, exhibits can be scanned into MDEC or emailed to the judge. Staggered dockets will be kept. They will not be going back to a 9 a.m. cattle call. Dockets at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for civil with no more 3:00 p.m. dockets. In Juvenile, the dockets will be 9:00, 11:00, 1:30, and 3:00 and will continue to be remote. Tim Sheridan, Circuit Court administrator, gave no separate report as his report was joint with Judge Jakubowski. Wendy Epstein reported on behalf of the Magistrates that uncontested divorce cases will remain remote. Standby cases are being sent to Magistrates the night before for potential settlement. The Orphan’s Court and Register of Wills had no report. Julie Ensor, Clerk of the Court, announced that longterm Chief Deputy Clerk Carol Miller recently retired as of July 1, 2021. The new Chief Deputy Clerk Craig Moskovitz began on June 30, 2021. Craig previously worked in the Clerk’s Office handling IT. The Clerk’s Office will also keep the drop box in the lobby for now. Email communication is a great way to communicate with their office. Telework remains in effect for some employees one day a week since many processes are fully electronic. There was a question regarding why attorneys cannot get marital settlement agreements when they used to be able to. Ms. Ensor answered that there is a public kiosk where you can find these agreements. You can email the records department and also obtain it for $.50 per page. Email is ccbaltcoclerkrecords@mdcourts.gov and its usually same day service. Judge Dorothy J. Wilson reported that the District Court is doing well. Two brand new judges will be

BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE REPORT By Damien Banks

sworn in on July 12, 2021: Judge Krystin J. Richardson and Judge Susan C. Zellweger. Judge Zellweger’s Investiture will be held on July 22, and Judge Richardson’s will be on August 12. They will be starting on July 13 and undergo a two or threeweek orientation before handling dockets. A fifth judge will be headed to the new Catonsville courthouse. Courtroom Number 1 is functionally too small. With 8 courtrooms in Catonsville, the Court will cease use of Courtroom Number 1. The District Court is also happy to announce that Judge Barbera approve its Drug Court application along with allocating funding. They will also be submitting a mental health court application, and they hope to be up and operating in the near future. Laura Stone, Division Chief in Essex, will be leaving to become the administrative clerk for Harford County District Court.

Screening is done at the front door with temperature checks. Bailiffs take names of people who don’t pass the screen in order to deal with their cases. ADR will be starting in person again around September doing mediations in person. The self-help center in Catonsville has started taking walk-ins again. Domestic violence will move into their suite in Catonsville and will begin taking new matters. Juvenile and Parole and Probation has moved into a new courthouse. Judge Wilson is also serving on an art committee which will select art to be placed in the courthouse. They are looking for a local artist to do two pieces, one for the lobby and another for upstairs near the clerk’s office.

Judge Wilson reported that there has been no final determination on whether the staggering of dockets will continue. For the time being, traffic dockets will remain 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Maria Fields, District Court Clerk, reported that they are revisiting dockets to increase numbers on certain types of cases. Landlord Tenant is increasing the most. They are also trying to increase criminal cases in Essex. The other courts will remain the same until the end of the year to get through the backlog. They are meeting soon to look at 2022 dockets and how to work through the backlog. More information will be coming. Judge William J.D. Somerville, III reported on behalf of the Office of Administrative Hearings. On June 14, the Governor arrived and swore in 10 new administrative law judges and announced for the first time publicly that Krystin Richardson would be sworn in as a District Court judge. Many vacancies remain at the OAH.

President of the BCBA Stan Gann reported on behalf of the Executive Council. This is the 100th anniversary of the Baltimore County Bar Association. A book will be coming out about the association’s history. Important upcoming dates include August 21 which is a Crab Feast and Ironbirds outing. September 23 is the Party in the Plaza to celebrate the 100th anniversary. Stan will handout the century album at the party. Jan 27, 2022 will be the centennial banquet at Martin’s Valley Mansion. Scott Shellenberger reported on behalf of the State’s Attorney's Office. The majority of the 17 criminal jury trials have been murder cases. The office has been busy and is preparing to be even busier. They are coming back to the office 4 days a week with one day remote. He reported that Baltimore County has been great in supplying technology. The staff has laptops that they take back and forth. The new case management system integrates with MDEC and remote work is going very well. The jury selection process at the American Legion is going very well and is actually faster than pre-pandemic. The American Legion saves time with check-in and transporting jurors. James Dills, Office of the Public Defender, agreed with Mr. Shellenberger that the jury selection process is working better at the American Legion. The jurors are moving faster and more efficiently. His office is working on a hybrid remote model as well with 4 days in the office and staggering the one remote day. He noted an issue that has arisen with the office. A person will come in and apply for a public defender, but then a private attorney may come in for bail

BENCH/BAR COMMITTEE REPORT By Damien Banks purposes only. The public defender’s office then does not get another notice even though the party is qualified. They have noticed an uptick during COVID. The private attorney gets stricken but the PD’s office does not get notification of the qualification. The commissioner’s office says that the people do not need to re-qualify. Some attorneys will strike their appearance, but the PD’s office does not get notified. MDEC has appeared to worsen the issue.

As a courtesy, private criminal defense attorneys should send a courtesy copy to the PD’s office if you are going to strike your appearance to notify them so they may get re-involved. Judge Wilson noted that she may pass along this issue to Judge Morrissey to help problem solve the issue. Raphael Santini is excited to be the chairperson of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Bench Bar committee will have a different D&I member attend the monthly meetings and give reports. Diversity and Inclusion will hold their meetings on the first Thursday of every month at 5:00 p.m. followed by guest speaker and social gathering. All are welcome to attend. Each speaker will speak on what diversity and inclusion means to them. He hopes to have inclusive meetings made up of Baltimore County firms and their principals speak on the topic. They are working on a speaker series with Dean McClain to discuss what comes after the 21-week challenge. They are also planning programs with the ADR and Professionalism committees as well as what to do after the “uncomfortable silence.” They are continuing to work with Summer Scholars program and Judge Robinson will be the Chairperson. They are starting an alter-ego program as well The Diversity and Inclusion Committee will be having an end-of-summer reception on July 29, 2021 at 4:30 pm at The Point.

Chris Malanga, Chair of the Family Law Committee, reported that the committee has six programs planned for this Fall/Winter. They have a Meet & Greet dinner September 1 with the location and time to be determined. All judges and magistrates are invited and the committee is looking for RSVPs. A brown bag lunch on October 6 at 12:00 p.m. will be held regarding Alimony Reduction at Retirement. October 12 will be a dinner meeting at Vito’s with the topic being “Custody of Cryogentically Preserved Embryos.” On October 2 will be a “Meet the Magistrates” program and also celebrating the retirement of Phillys Brown. On November 10, there will be a brown bag lunch to meet the Family Services Division of the circuit court. On December 1, 2021 they will have a mediators’ program at noon to learn what they have to offer their clients. 2022 is still in the works and will be announced at a later date.

Adam Konstas, Young Lawyers Chair, provided a written report. He noted that the planning meeting was well attended. They mapped out events for the year, including the Holiday Lunch and the Bull Roast. They have had volunteers to write pieces for The Advocate. YL typically makes brown bag lunches for Chamber Chats. Judges Jakubowski and Wilson will put the word out for volunteers to speak at the events. Harry Chase, Baltimore City Liason, noted that the City is increasing jury trials and still using the War Memorial for jury selection. Family law is scheduling more cases as well. The City is using courtrooms for jury deliberation instead of jury rooms. They will have mobile vaccine centers downtown and at District Courts to hopefully increase vaccination rates through the City. The portraits of Judge Dugan and Smith will be coming soon to the circuit court. In fall, he believes they will start showing them. Tyler Nowicki is the new Harford County Liaison taking over for Deb Schubert. He mentioned that the BCBA has been incredible in how they have operated through COVID. Harford County is not yet meeting in person. The Harford County District Court is running smoothly with staggered staff, and the family law cases are moving well. Judge Ishak has a couple of criminal trials moving forward with the most serious cases. Jury selection is going well by using the Harford County fairgrounds. There is no Bench/Bar meeting in August.