  Debate
on Town Judges Questions Need for Degree
By John Caher
Albany Bureau Chief
New York Law Journal
http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/index.jsp
ALBANY - (January 30th 2007)
The New York State Bar Association locked horns with local judges
yesterday over whether a law degree should be required of town
and village magistrates.
Bar leaders, perhaps predictably, say it is time for a 300-year
tradition of non-lawyer judges to come to an end. And the magistrates,
perhaps just as predictably since nearly three-fourths of their
2,000 members are not lawyers, argue that a law degree is neither
a necessary pedigree nor a guarantee of judicial competence.
The hearing yesterday initiated by Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman John A. DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, was prompted by a New
York Times exposé last year suggesting that the town and
village justice system is at best haphazard and at worst unjust.
Part of the inquiry yesterday dealt with the qualifications and
training of the justices, who now handle 2 million cases an year
and take in $200 million in fines and fees.
Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan
Lippman have already embraced an "action plan" that
would increase state court system oversight of the local courts
and expand the non-lawyer basic training program from one week
to seven.
But some advocates, including Mark H. Alcott of Paul, Weiss,
Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, president of the state bar, argue
that it is "no longer acceptable" for non-lawyers to
hold judicial office.
"My view is lawyers make the best judges," Mr. Alcott
told the Judiciary Committee. "When it comes to someone applying
the law, we need someone trained in the law. To me, that is a
fairly evident proposition."
But to Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Bronx, that is an "elitist"
proposition. She questioned whether the lack of legal training
is really an issue. Mr. Alcott insists it is.
"There is nothing elitist about saying someone applying
the law and enforcing the law should be schooled in the law,"
Mr. Alcott said. "What good does it do you to have a lawyer
represent you if you have a judge who doesn't understand the law?"
Mr. DeFrancisco and Senator George H. Winner Jr., R-Elmira, questioned
the practicality of limiting town and village judgeships to attorneys.
Mr. DeFrancisco noted that some attorneys are reluctant to hold
those often low-paying posts because they are then barred from
practicing in another town or village court in their county, a
severe restriction in some areas. And Mr. Winner observed that
there are some communities where there are no lawyers.
"We are not all from Appalachia, and we are not all woodchucks,
but there are areas where there are no attorneys," Mr. Winner
said.
Rockland County District Attorney Michael E. Bongiorno said he
does "not accept the argument that there is a lack of attorneys
who want to be judges in some communities." He said any logistical
problem of that nature could be solved by simply permitting attorneys
from surrounding communities to serve as town and village justices.
"I do not believe an additional week or several weeks of
training for non-lawyers is sufficient to educate a non-lawyer
as to the complexities of criminal law and procedure," Mr.
Bongiorno told the committee. "If I were a defendant, I would
not want my future in the hands of a judge who was not well-versed
in the law."
Common Sense
But the judges, including those who are lawyers, said the diverse
experience and common sense that the best magistrates bring to
their courts more than makes up for any deficiency in formal legal
training.
"We are not country bumpkins," said Stuyvesant Town
Justice Carrie A. O'Hare, a doctoral candidate in Columbia County.
"Training to be a lawyer is not necessarily training to be
an effective justice at the town and village court level. Town
and village justices require the capacity to research the law,
but they require much more that is not systematically addressed
in a law school education: skills in communicating with people
without legal backgrounds, management skills and organizational
knowledge."
Tuckahoe Village Justice David O. Fuller Jr., a Harvard Law School
graduate and former Manhattan assistant district attorney, said
non-lawyers serve the system well.
"Those in business, education and formerly in state positions,
among many others, have been able, with adequate training, to
render well-informed decisions to the public," Justice Fuller
said. "They bring specialized experience with transportation,
parks and recreation, conservation and many other matters peculiar
to certain areas of the state that members of the bar may not
have."
Misconduct Complaints
The New York Times series, however, revealed that under-educated
and untrained judges often render decisions devoid of due process.
Town and village justices account for more than 70 percent of
the disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Commission on Judicial
Conduct.
Commission Administrator and Counsel Robert H. Tembeckjian said
that "complaints of misconduct against town and village justices
are more likely to have merit, warrant investigation and result
in punishment than complaints against judges of higher courts."
However, he also said that non-lawyer judges are no more likely
to incur the wrath of the commission than those who are admitted
to the bar.
Van Buren Town Justice Edward G. Van Der Water, vice president
of the New York State Magistrates Association, said Commission
on Judicial Conduct statistics show two things: First, the disciplinary
system works and, second, that there is no reason to require law
degrees.
"About half the judges in the state system have a law degree
and half do not," said Justice Van Der Water, a former deputy
police chief in Syracuse. "In the last eight years the determination
rate, including removals from office, average out almost exactly
the same."
Judge Lippman said the court system's current focus is on working
within the existing framework to improve the town and village
courts. He said that converting to an all-lawyer town justice
system is not immediately a "viable option." But he
also said that the "hands-off approach that says each locality
runs their court in any fashion they think appropriate" must
and will end.
"However qualified and dedicated the overwhelming majority
of local judges and staff may be, 1,277 different courts cannot
reliably deliver cost-effective, high-quality justice without
a more cohesive systemic approach," Judge Lippman said.
Budget Request
The judiciary, in its budget request now before the governor,
asks for $10 million to upgrade the local courts, provide them
with equipment to ensure a record is made of all proceedings,
provide additional training to justices and integrate the courts
more fully into the state system.
"It should be noted here that the vast majority of non-lawyer
justices serve ably and responsibly," Judge Lippman said.
"They do so in areas of the state where there are not enough
lawyers willing or available to preside in local courts. Accordingly,
our obligation is to train these individuals to the very best
of our ability."
He said that in addition to expanding the training program for
non-lawyer judges to seven weeks from one, the Office of Court
Administration is drafting what will be "by far . . . our
most rigorous training program ever."
(- John Caher can be reached at jcaher@alm.com )
Re: Justice and Justices
By Anthony Henry Smith
Is every lawyer qualified to be a justice?
Wisdom consists of the ability to utilize knowledge within a context
of values.
Law can be applied by a trained craftsperson to produce solutions
that are legal, but are not necessarily "Just" or fair.
Fairness can only be realized through Wisdom.
Wisdom is not a mantel to be bestowed by lofty titles or degrees.
Wisdom occurs at the confluence of the love of learning and nobility
of spirit. These qualities are the hallmarks of a true leader
and a worthy judge.
Properly framed the question is this:
How many degree holders, lawyers included, are capable of rising
above the level of crafting merely legal solutions? How many by
virtue of their love of learning and nobility of spirit are capable
of attaining the level of fairness known as Justice and are therefore
qualified to be installed as justices?
One need look no further than our own federal government to realize
the finest education, absent values, is not evidence of Wisdom.
(-Anthony Henry Smith can be reached at ahsfolkapl@aol.com )
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