Chief Justice Appoints New CCMS Oversight Committee

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

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Chief Justice Appoints New CCMS Oversight Committee

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye yesterday announced the appointment of a new Judicial Council internal committee to provide reports and policy recommendations regarding the beleaguered California Court Case Management System as well as oversee the project’s current governance structure.

She said this 10-member committee “will be responsible for ensuring that council policies are complied with and the project proceeds on schedule and within budget.”

William C. Vickrey, administrative director of the courts, remarked that the group “will ensure that the Judicial Council is not only kept informed and up-to-date on the case management system, but that the deployment of CCMS is completed in a way that is consistent with the policies and priorities established by the council.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge David S. Wesley and attorney Edith R. Matthai were both tapped to join the committee, which will be chaired by Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge James E. Herman.

Plumas Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Ira R. Kaufman and Third District Court of Appeal Justice Harry E. Hull Jr. were named vice-chairpersons of the group, which also includes Shasta Superior Court Judge Stephen H. Baker, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Teri L. Jackson, San Francisco attorney James N. Penrod, San Diego Superior Court Executive Officer Michael M. Roddy, and Marin Superior Court Executive Officer Kim Turner.

The committee is scheduled to make its first report on CCMS at the Judicial Council’s business meeting next Friday.

CCMS already had its governance structure overhauled in February with the creation of a governance committee led by Court of Appeal Justice Terence L. Bruiniers of the First District, Div. Five, and three advisory committees, shortly before the state auditor released a scathing report of the project.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles Horan, a frequent critic of the AOC and Judicial Council who is a director of the Alliance of California Judges called the announcement of this newest committee, “comical.”

He commented that the council already “formed the three ‘Mega Committees’ to oversee CCMS, replacing at least two other committees,” and “they have formed a new internal council committee, presumably called the Mother of All Committees, to oversee THOSE committees of 40 or more people.”

With the formation of this internal committee, Horan noted that “Judge Ira Kaufman oversees himself” since Kaufman is also a member of the CCMS governance oversight committee.

“It is a circle without beginning, and without end,” Horan said, insisting “the system just needs to be scrapped” as it “is beyond repair by this, or any, chief justice.”