Court Unification
* Re “In Los Angeles County, Two Courts Are Better Than One,” Opinion, May 23: I am the immediate past president of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., which has voiced its support for trial court unification in California. Charles L. Lindner is far off the mark in his conclusion that the Los Angeles Superior Court should not unify with the local municipal courts.
Lindner’s primary argument also is voiced by some local Superior Court judges, namely that trial-court unification will not work in Los Angeles. Recent events have proven that contention wrong. Fifty-four of the 58 California county trial courts are now unified.
Lindner fails to mention the strongest reason for trial court coordination in L.A. County and elsewhere: efficiency and cost savings. With one trial court system, there can be uniformity in computer systems, operating systems and court rules and procedures. Even workloads between Superior Court and Municipal Court judges can be maintained and competition between local trial courts for taxpayer dollars for court construction will become a thing of the past.
DAVID J. PASTERNAK
Los Angeles
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