Washington State Courts Washington Courts



PRESENT

Commission Members: Justice Barbara A. Madsen, Judge Marlin Appelwick, Professor Helen Donigan, Mary E. Fairhurst, Thomas R. Fallquist, Jennefer Henson, Judge Wesley Saint Clair, Judge Ann Schindler

Staff:  Gloria Hemmen, Administrative Office of the Courts

CALL TO ORDER

Justice Madsen called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m.

COMMISSION BUSINESS

Approval of Minutes

Due to weather and transportation problems, a quorum was not present to approve the minutes of the November 9, 2001 meeting and January 11, 2002 retreat.

Budget Report

A written budget report was reviewed.  Justice Madsen noted that the current Commission’s budget would not be affected during the budget crisis.

Membership

Five Commission members’ terms expire in July.  According to the by-laws change last year:  Members appointed to a full term may be reappointed only once to another full term without a break in service.  Members appointed initially to a partial term may be reappointed only twice to full terms without a break in service.  This provision shall apply to appointments made after November 16, 2000.   All five members qualify for reappointment.

Judge Saint Clair, Nominating Committee chair, will continue recruiting potential judicial and legislative candidates.  It was suggested a notice be placed in the Judicial Clippings recruiting judicial officers.  Individual contacts will also be made by current Commission members. 

 

 

CURRENT PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS FOR 2002

Glass Ceiling Survey Report

The Commission reviewed the Final Report of the 2001 Self-Audit for Gender and Racial Equity: A Survey of Washington Law Firms.  Justice Madsen and Judith Ramseyer are participating in the CityClub lunch forum, 3/8/02 to discuss glass ceiling issues.    Chief Justice Alexander will be giving a brief introduction.  Commission members Concannon, Donigan, Fairhurst, Fuentes, and Hemmen plan to attend.  The Commission will discuss possible report follow-up activities at the next meeting.

The report is available at .

 

Task Force on Civil Equal Justice

Justice Charles Johnson, chair, and Judge Mary Kay Becker, co-chair, are heading the new Task Force on Civil Equal Justice.   One of their charges is to oversee a comprehensive study of the unmet civil legal needs of poor and vulnerable people in Washington State, including the unmet needs of those who suffer from disparate access barriers.   A survey is being planned to identify those needs.

This is an opportunity for the Gender and Justice Commission to structure questions to get information we need to strengthen the work of the Commission; identify unmet needs, and direct future projects..   Issues to be considered include: gender as a demographic; how many complaints/needs involve domestic violence; how broad is the perception that there is bias in the system.

It was agreed that Justice Madsen, Judge Schindler and Mary Fairhurst would draft some questions that might be incorporated into this survey to provide data to the Gender and Justice Commission.   Justice Madsen will attend the Civil Equal Justice Task Force Meeting on March 20.

 

Women Judges' History Project:  Her Day in Court

Copies of the lesson plan and videotape were provided to all the chapters of Washington Women Lawyers and to the state chapter of the League of Women Voters.  During Women's History Month, the video is also scheduled to be shown on Tacoma public television, at the Court of Appeals, Div. I., Seattle, and the Administrative Office of the Courts, Olympia.

 

Removing Obstacles to Justice for Immigrants and Their Families

The Planning Committee met via conference call on 2/13 and will meet again on 3/22.  Judge Dean Lum, Chair of the Superior Court Judges’ Association (SCJA) Equality and Judge Marilyn Paja, chair of the District and Municipal Court Judges Association (DMCJA) Diversity Committee, have joined the planning group.  The Gender and Justice Commission will send Lourdes Fuentes and Gloria Hemmen to the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) sponsored one-day pilot program.  Removing Obstacles to Justice for Immigrants program on April 5 at the National Judicial College in Reno.  Judge Paja, will be attending on a DMCJA education scholarship.

 

Judge Schindler provided information on using interpreters.  It was suggested the handout could be laminated and used as a benchguide.

 

 

VAWA Grants

(1)  Stop Grant Request for Proposal (RFP) for Court-Related DV, Sexual Assault and Stalking Projects,

Contracts are in place for the projects in the Island County Superior Court, Whatcom County Superior Court, Clark County District Court, Seattle Municipal Court and Tacoma Municipal Court.  First quarter reports are due By April 15.

(2)  Scholarships for Enhancing Judicial Skills in DV workshops

A total of 33 judicial attended these workshops.  Scholarships were provided to 7 from Gender and Justice Commission funds and to 24 from Violence Against Women Act grant funds

(3)  Reprinting the Guidelines for Domestic Violence and Anti-harassment Orders

The Office of Crime Victims Advocacy approved the use of unexpended DV workshop grant funds to pay for printing and distribution of the revised Guidelines for Domestic Violence and Anti- harassment Protection Orders.  Copies will be sent to all state judicial officers and to domestic violence programs’ advocates.

(4)  Continuation of the Rural DV Training

Margaret Fisher was notified that VAWA funds were available for continuation of the Rural/Tribal Court Judges DV Training.  Two 1-day workshops will be held and new domestic violence resource materials for municipal court judges will be developed. 

 

Full Faith and Credit Team – Current Activities

Pam Daniels submitted an e-mail status report regarding the   Snohomish County Clerk's Office and The Tulalip Tribe "pilot" Full Faith and Credit (civil) DV Protection Order protocols:

 

Due to the fact that The Tulalip Tribe did not adopt their DV Ordinance until the end of last year (over the holidays), we have really only been "functioning" since January 2002.  Coincidentally, Tulalip Tribal Judge Weissmuller tells me that domestic violence is a prominent issue in criminal court, but not through the civil tribal court.  He estimates they have had 5-7 matters and only one has been sent to the Clerk's Office utilizing our forms and protocols.  I attended a Tulalip Tribe DV Coordination meeting a couple of weeks ago and both Judge Weissmuller and I agreed there was value in identifying the values of filing these orders in our court system to petitioners to be sure they understand and follow through the process.  In our telephone conversation this afternoon we also agreed to have my DV Protection Order Program manager meet with his court clerk to ensure each court level's needs are being met.  To sum things up - I would say we are right where we thought we would be at this time (just expected more orders coming through our office by this time) - we are in the process of "living with" our forms and protocols and tweaking the same to improve the program. 

 

In addition, both Judge Weissmuller and I have been invited to attend the NW Tribal CourtAssociation's Full Faith & Credit Conference in April to discuss this pilot.  Because both of us have to attend other conferences relating to our respective positions, my DV Protection Order Program manager and a Tulalip Tribal prosecutor will attend in our place.

Tom Fallquist reported the Spokane Clerks Office is working with the Spokane Tribal Court to set up a protocol.   Judge Tompkins met with tribal court judges on this protocol. 

 

Domestic Violence Summits

The Thurston County Domestic Violence Summit Planning Committee is looking at dates in May for their local summit.  Their education conference is still scheduled for October.  A revised contract will provide a total of $6,500 of Commission funds for support of these two projects.

 

Domestic Violence Manual for Judges

The manual will be produced in-house at AOC.  Distribution is scheduled for May.  It was agreed the manual should be placed on both the Court’s Internet and Extranet sites so it is available to the court community and the public.  Future updates can be made directly on-line.  It was also suggested we add a disclaimer noting this manual is for educational purposes.   Other benchbooks will be reviewed to see if any are on-line and have such a disclaimer.

 

Review of Commission Retreat proposed Projects and Timeline

The Commission reviewed the worksheets for new projects and focused on the follow-up on the Glass Ceiling Survey.  It was proposed that we meet with the other sponsors of the survey to discuss what to do next.  Suggestions for action included:

§                     Talk to attorneys in firms who are have successfully dealt with these issues to get a sense of what strategically would have to change:

§                     Invite successful firms to help with future programs;

§                     Invite law firm partners to roundtable discussions on the issues identified in the survey;

 

OTHER BUSINESS

Liaison with Other Organizations

Justice Madsen will arrange for the University of Washington group CORE on Campus to speak to the Commission.   The executive director of the Washington State Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs will be invited to the May program.

NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. so members could attend the Glass Ceiling survey presentation at the CityClub lunch forum.  The next meeting is scheduled for May 10, 2002.

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