PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE A Few Things to Be Proud of this June (and a Few Not to Be) J. TIMOTHY NARDELL
Clerk’s Office Delays and the Reopening
ord of the full meeting, which is available
Process
here.
The mission of MCBA is “to involve, encour-
In addition to the Town Hall, I participated in
age and support Bar Association members, to
a meeting with Judge Sweet and other com-
serve as a liaison to the Marin County courts,
munity leaders to discuss the reopening pro-
and to educate the community and enhance
cess; and Mee Mee Wong and I met with
access to legal services.” Throughout the pan-
James Kim (CEO of the Court) and Jodi
demic and over the last few months as we
Leveque (the Court’s new COO, as of Novem-
emerge into a reopening Bay Area, MCBA
ber 2020) to discuss plans for reopening the
leadership has been working to keep the lines
clerk’s office and member concerns about the
of communications open between our mem-
current drop box/limited appointment sys-
bers and the Marin County Superior Court.
tem.
We’ve been supportive and respectful of the
extraordinarily difficult burdens that the judges and court staff have had to bear to keep essential court services available and the Court open throughout the pandemic. At the same time, we’ve done our best to communicate to the court leadership our members’ concerns about court processes and difficulties that our members have experienced with the clerk’s office.
It is important for all of us working outside of the Court to bear in mind that the judges and court staff have been working incredibly hard to keep the Court open to the public throughout the pandemic and to keep working conditions at the courthouse safe for all employees and members of the public. For example, James Kim noted that Marin was one of the first courts in the Bay Area to deploy video
Last month, I was proud to represent MCBA
remote hearings in all case types to promote court and public safety. In addition, court ad-
in a town hall-style discussion with Judges Sweet, Adams and Freccero to discuss the
ministrators have had to do an enormous amount of work behind the scenes to make
current status of the various departments of
workspaces COVID-safe, in compliance with
the Court and the reopening process. We had a full house for the Zoom meeting. If you
changing CDC, state, local and OSHA guidelines. Since our Court has not yet moved to an
missed it, a report on the highlights is available in this month’s Marin Lawyer here. I’m al-
e-filing system, changes had to be made internally to protect court staff from possible in-
so happy to report that we made a video rec-
fection from court papers. (Recall that in the
THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association
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