- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
As part of its Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, the Supreme Judicial Court will be soliciting evaluations from attorneys, court employees, and jurors of judges who served on any Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, or Hampshire County Court, the Housing Court, or the Land Court in the last two years. Judges on those courts who were recently evaluated will not be included.
The Judicial Performance Evaluation Program allows members of the bar, court employees, and jurors to provide anonymous, confidential feedback about judges both to the judges themselves and to court leadership. Beginning in late October, attorneys will receive an email inviting them to complete questionnaires about judges before whom they were scheduled to appear in the preceding two years. Attorneys will be directed to an encrypted website where they can respond anonymously.
The questionnaire solicits attorneys’ views on judicial qualities, including legal knowledge, temperament, courtroom management, treatment of courtroom participants, and communication style. Attorneys are encouraged to complete the questionnaires as soon as possible, as the success of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program depends both upon timely responses and a high rate of participation to provide judges with fair and comprehensive feedback about their judicial performance.
Court employees and jurors will also be asked to respond to questionnaires regarding judges they have observed.
Questionnaire responses are anonymous. Judges will not receive copies of individual completed questionnaires. Instead, responses submitted about each judge will be aggregated into a single confidential evaluation report, which will be shared with the judge being evaluated. Judges discuss evaluation reports with their Chief Justices with the goal of fostering professional development and self-improvement.