Judges Court Opinions in Forum Series

In one recent public meeting, a group of judges dropped their long black robes in favor of tan trousers, trendy vests and cowboy boots. They answered questions and traded views. But mostly, they listened.

Last week at another, jurists got an earful, from citizen-jurors soured on the judicial system to divorced dads unhappy about what they see as sexism in the courtroom.

The meetings, one in South-Central Los Angeles and the other in San Fernando, were the first two in a series of five such forums scheduled over several months in Los Angeles County. Similar meetings are taking place across the state.

A steady erosion of public trust in the courts over recent years has prompted state judicial leaders to take dramatic steps in reaching out to the public. In the process, California has emerged as a leader in a growing national movement to transform the relationship between judges and the people they serve.

In July, California Chief Justice Ronald M. George ordered all 58 county court systems to begin making community dialogues--grouping court administrators, lawyers and judges with residents--a regular part of the planning process.

A year earlier, George asked Los Angeles Municipal Court Presiding Judge Veronica McBeth to head a committee to come up with ways to bridge the gap between courts and communities.

Court procedures are felt to be too complicated, complex and inaccessible; judges are seen as cold and unfriendly, McBeth said. People say justice is rarely served, she said.

Less than a fifth of the respondents in a recent Los Angeles Superior Court self-study expressed strong confidence in the courts, while nearly a quarter said they have very little confidence in them.

McBeth’s group will issue a report in February to the Judicial Council, which governs the state’s court system, on existing court-community partnerships and recommendations for how California might adopt some of them statewide.

Taken together, the efforts are believed to mark the first time a state court system has reached out to the public in this kind of systematic fashion. “What’s happening in California is totally unprecedented,” said Roger Warren, president of the Williamsburg, Va.-based National Center for State Courts. “They have really carried this ball on court-community collaboration farther than anyone else.”

Judges have historically been wary of excessive interaction with the public out of fear it would jeopardize the impartiality and independence essential to their positions.

“It’s a very isolating job,” said Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler. “That’s the way it is designed. . . . You not only have to be neutral but appear neutral. If you get involved in any sort of community group, you could be viewed as espousing their views.”

McBeth, however, points to the 1992 Los Angeles riots--which were sparked by citizens outraged over the acquittal of police officers on trial for the beating of Rodney King--as an extreme example of the need for judges to get off their benches and into the community.

“The rule of law means more than just that we decide cases based on the Constitution and the case law that follows it,” McBeth said.

In May, the American Bar Assn. will join the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators and the League of Women Voters to sponsor a national meeting in Washington, D.C., to examine ways in which public trust and confidence in the justice system can be renewed. Chief justices from all 50 states will either attend or send representatives.

Art Jones, 58, came to the first meeting as a skeptical black man who lives and works in Los Angeles. “The system hasn’t been too kind to people like me,” he said.

He later acknowledged that the give-and-take with judges was useful.

“The community needs so much more of this,” Jones said. “It’s a start, and I’ll withhold judgment because, right now, that’s all it is: a start.”

In San Fernando on Tuesday, Jeanne Polak-Recht of Northridge, who has served on three juries, agreed. Polak-Recht, a mother of two who recently became a grandmother, part-time teacher and avid bird watcher, is the kind of typical citizen that judges and court administrators want on their side.

“I think they’re on the right track,” she said.

But she cautioned court leaders: “I think they’ll have a lot of work to do to overcome our doubts and fears.”

Two more Los Angeles County public meetings are scheduled: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Long Beach Courthouse; 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at Pomona Courthouse.