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FEATURED ARTICLE
Boardroom meets the courtroom
Panel recommends judicial branch function more like a business
By Dan Touhy
Published: November 2006
The customer is always right – except in a court of law.
As the New Hampshire court system monitors its performance, the custodians of justice are re-examining customer service and turning increasingly to business models put to work every day in the private sector. In dealing with residents, families, businesses and, yes, lawyers, it is important to measure customer satisfaction as a way to establish benchmarks for success, said Eric Herr, a former president and chief executive officer of Autodesk.
As a member of the New Hampshire Citizens Commission on the State Courts, Herr served as chairman of the Courts as a Business Subcommittee. Herr tapped his software industry experience, joining nearly 100 other volunteer members, to ask questions such as how productivity reports would look and work in the judiciary.
The independent commission, two-thirds of the membership being non-lawyers, recommends the judicial branch take steps to measure and manage its performance. The boardroom meets the courtroom with outcomes-based performance objectives. “The report is a different way of thinking about the court,” said Herr. “It’s a strong emphasis of not looking inside out, but outside in.” The commission issued its final report in June, calling for improved services including a toll-free help line, non-traditional operating hours and the creation of a judicial branch ombudsman to address public concerns.
New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice John T. Broderick Jr., whose push for more-accessible courts led to the commission, has six months from the final report to issue his interim report on the 30 recommendations.
The review focused on major areas, including customer service, public access, family courts, sentencing guidelines, outreach, and alternate dispute resolution programs such as mediation, the goal of which is to settle complaints out of court and to decrease costs and improve court efficiency. In a litigious society with more and more complaints being filed, alternate dispute resolution will shorten some legal roads, Herr notes.
And time is money. Consider the New Hampshire judiciary’s 2005 operations:
More than 225,000 cases annual disposition.
67 courts statewide with about 600 employees.
$63 million annual operating budget.
On the cost factor, the commission wants judiciary leaders to be more progressive on sentencing issues and on problem-solving courts. It recommends a comprehensive system of pretrial diversion programs as an alternative to prison for people who are not considered a threat to the public. “The cost of incarceration alone argues for creative thinking,” the commission said.
Members of the Courts as a Business subcommittee included John Crosier, a past president of the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association, Rockingham County James Reams, Attorney Daniel Callaghan, and Supreme Court Associate Justice Gary E. Hicks.
Better use of information technology is cited as another way to lower costs while improving customer services. The commission recommends the judicial branch use more video-conferencing and electronic filing and notification. “Using computers, video and teleconferencing is not without cost, but failing to do so is a failure to employ the single best means to render the judicial branch more consumer-friendly and less costly overall,” the commission said.
A poll conducted for the commission by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found that most people have a positive opinion of the courts, but that a third or more of the population knew little about court operations and had no experience in the courts.
Pollster Andy Smith said nearly half of the 765 people responding to the poll said people always or usually receive fair outcomes when they deal with the courts.
Lastly, much like any private-sector marketing campaign, the commission recommends the court system launch a sustained public outreach to educate residents and businesses of its mission and services.
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