As part of the continuing program to evaluate and enhance judicial performance, the Supreme Judicial Court's Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee has recently sent questionnaires to attorneys and court employees in Suffolk County. Jurors who participate in trials will receive questionnaires upon completion of their jury duty for the next several months. Forty-eight judges will be evaluated in the Boston Municipal Court Department, the District Courts in Suffolk County, Suffolk Juvenile Court, Boston Housing Court, and Suffolk Probate and Family Court. Superior Court judges in Suffolk County will be evaluated later in 2006.

          This round of evaluation is the first time that the electronic evaluation system is being used. Attorneys whose email addresses were known to the Supreme Judicial Court will receive an invitation inviting them to use the evaluation website and will be given a username and password. Out of the approximately 4000 attorneys selected for the Suffolk County evaluation, almost 900 will be able to complete the evaluation on-line. If attorneys wish the Supreme Judicial Court to have their email addresses for conducting evaluation, 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 these counties in the last two years, according to computerized court records, have received questionnaires. The deadline for returning the survey is December 21, 2005.

          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.

          The jurisdiction of the Taunton District Court includes the Bristol County communities of Berkley, Dighton, Easton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, and Taunton. Judge Kevan J. Cunningham is the First Justice of Taunton District Court.

          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.

          Inquiries concerning questionnaires and evaluations should be directed 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.