Giving Form to a Unified Court

On Saturday, when the Los Angeles Municipal Court officially ceased to exist as a separate entity, the newly unified Superior Court emerged, 429 judges strong, as the largest trial court in the nation, perhaps the world. The image of so many black robes has an irrepressible Gilbert and Sullivan quality.

The unification did not happen easily or quickly. Proposition 220, passed by California’s voters in 1998, permitted trial courts in each county to merge if the judges of that county agreed. The expectation was that unified courts would operate more efficiently, eliminate staff duplication and save money. In the past two years, the trial courts in nearly every county have unified, and several have begun to realize those benefits.

In Los Angeles, however, Superior Court judges rejected the idea until this month, when they finally approved a unification plan. Municipal Court judges, who also had to approve the move, were on board much earlier.

Saturday, California Chief Justice Ronald M. George, presiding over a sea of black robes in an unusual ceremony at the Regal Biltmore Hotel downtown, elevated most of the county’s 191 Municipal Court judges to the Superior Court.

Now comes the hard part. This month’s unification vote occurred after the courts agreed on outlines for merging calendars, staffs and resources. Actually putting that plan into effect will take intensive effort in the county’s 12 districts and 53 courthouses.

We venture to say that most Los Angeles County residents care little about whether their trial courts are unified. But they do care that the courts operate efficiently and fairly, that they are accessible and that judges treat parties and jurors respectfully and justly.

Unification offers the opportunity for that to happen. But it will take hard work by independent-minded judges not used to pulling their oars together. It will also take creativity on the part of the court’s leaders and the right balance between empowering supervising judges to address local needs and holding all judges to common standards of service.

Success will also depend heavily on Sacramento. Gov. Gray Davis, who has been slow in making appointments across the board, needs to quickly fill the 14 vacancies on the Los Angeles court. And the court badly needs its $24-million share of state funding for unification, money that could be used to upgrade computer systems and facilities and to create special complex-litigation courts.