Supreme Judicial Court's Judicial Performance
Evaluation Committee
Seeks Response in Evaluation of Judges in Essex County
As
part of the ongoing program to evaluate and enhance judicial
performance, the Supreme Judicial Court's Judicial Performance
Evaluation Committee has sent questionnaires to attorneys
and court employees in Essex County. Jurors who participate
in trials will receive questionnaires upon completion
of their jury duty for the next several months. Forty-six
judges will be evaluated in the District Court, Juvenile
Court, Superior Court, Housing Court, and Probate and
Family Court.
Attorneys
whose email addresses are known to the Supreme Judicial
Court receive an invitation to use the evaluation website
and are given a username and password. Out of the 6,000
attorneys selected for the Essex County evaluation, more
than half will be able to complete the evaluation on-line.
If attorneys wish the Supreme Judicial Court to have
their email addresses for conducting evaluations in the
future, email addresses can be registered at http://judeval.sjc.state.ma.us/?go=reg.
The
Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee requests that
attorneys who receive questionnaires complete and return
them to the Supreme Judicial Court as soon as possible,
as the success of the evaluation program depends upon
timely responses. A high rate of participation enables
the Committee to provide judges with fair and complete
evaluations. Lawyers who have appeared in court multiple
times in Essex County in the last two years, according
to computerized court records, have received questionnaires.
The deadline for returning the paper questionnaire is
June 22, 2007; the electronic questionnaire is due by
July 13, 2007.
Among
the categories covered in the evaluations are: a judge's
knowledge of the law; temperament on the bench; courtroom
control; treatment of litigants, witnesses, jurors, and
attorneys; fairness and impartiality; and timeliness
in issuing written decisions.
All
questionnaires are confidential and do not request the
names of respondents. The resulting reports are also
confidential and are given only to the judge being evaluated
and to the appropriate Chief Justices.
Since
the inception of the program in 2001, evaluation has
been conducted in all the counties in the Commonwealth.
Judges are now being evaluated for the second time.
Please
direct any inquiries concerning questionnaires and evaluations
to Mona Hochberg, Supreme Judicial Court Judicial Performance
Evaluation Coordinator, at (617) 557-1156, or via email
at mona.hochberg@sjc.state.ma.us.
For other information, please contact Joan Kenney, Public
Information Officer, Supreme Judicial Court, at (617)
557-1113, or via email at joan.kenney@sjc.state.ma.us.
