Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Taking the Court to the People

Next Thursday, Division Two of the Court of Appeals will send a three-judge panel to Port Angeles High School to hear several criminal appeals and a local First-Amendment case.

It's their way of way of connecting with the community and educating youngsters about the judicial system. This article takes a look appellate court visits over the years.

When he first mentioned the idea to his Court of Appeals colleagues back in the late 80's, Judge Gerry Alexander had to do more than just convince his benchmates of the rightness of his cause. First, he had to change the law.

Alexander wanted his division to make periodic visits to communities in its 13-county jurisdictional area. But when the three divisions of the Court of Appeals first opened their doors in 1969, the state law that created it allowed the division to sit in only one location beyond its headquarters in Tacoma: Vancouver.

Upon discovering this, Alexander helped draft a bill that allowed the division to hear cases anywhere within its jurisdictional boundaries. Soon after the legislature passed the new law, his division's community visits began.

"I thought it would be a good idea, and my colleagues agreed with me, that we should travel periodically to the 13 counties within Division Two," Alexander recalled. "The bill passed unanimously, and Division Two visited each county, one-by-one."

To improve bench/bar relations, the court decided to meet with local bar associations during the visits. "We would go up the night before, have a meeting with the local bar association or a dinner, and then have CLE on appellate practice for local attorneys," he said. "It was good for us, because we got to meet the attorneys on an informal basis and they got the benefit of seeing the appellate practice first-hand."

It was not an entirely new idea. In 1987, the state Supreme Court was forced out of its historic Temple of Justice in Olympia, after state officials studied the building and concluded it could not survive a major earthquake. It would be two years before the Court's nine members could return to the building.

Then-chief Justice James Dolliver suggested they fill in some of that time by going "on the road." The Court's first visit was to Seattle, then it heard arguments in Tacoma, Bellingham, and Vancouver. Moving east of the Cascades, members heard cases in Yakima, Spokane and Pullman.

Now, such visits are nearly routine. The Supreme Court is planning more trips, and each division of the Court of Appeals makes several visits a year, sitting in high schools, superior court courtrooms, and community centers across wide geographic areas.

Supreme Court visits

Once elected to the Supreme Court, Alexander continued to promote community visits.

"When I came to the Supreme Court, then-Chief Justice Durham asked me to head up a committee to look into that for the Supreme Court. The Court had done that at one time in 1987-89 when the Temple of Justice was being restored, but not much since then," Alexander explained.

The Court has traveled twice this year, including visits to the historic Grays Harbor Superior Courthouse in Montesano and Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver.

"Chief Justice Guy would like us to continue this we have plans to go to Spokane to hold court in the new law school building, soon after they open their new building this spring," said Alexander. "We would also like to visit Seattle University's new law school building."

Supreme Court bailiff Steve Englehorn organizes the events. "In my opinion, these efforts have been a great success," he told Judicial News. "We attempt to hear cases that originated from the specific county we're visiting to make it of interest to the community."

Court of Appeals

According to Division One Court Administrator Richard Johnson, his Seattle-based court has been conducting off-site oral arguments for more than 10 years.

"The Court traditionally schedules two-day sessions combined with a CLE and normally a luncheon or reception sponsored by the local bar association," Johnson told Judicial News. "Off-site oral arguments are generally scheduled once a year, and the court tries to rotate such efforts among the counties served."

The Division One court continues to make such trips, traveling, in the past few years, north to Edmonds Community College, across Lake Washington to Bellevue City Hall, and across town to the University of Washington.

Judge J. Robin Hunt, a leader in the visit "movement" for Division Two, enjoys the interaction with students and teachers that the visits provide. During a recent trip to Lacey's River Ridge High School, Hunt developed a rapport with teacher Gwen Cruz, and has worked to find an attorney-coach for the school's mock trial team. "The students and Ms. Cruz were wonderful hosts," said Hunt.

Holding court in a school building helped to keep attendance numbers up. "Conducting court in the high school facilitated the students' ability to attend the oral arguments and to learn about the appellate court system of our state," she said.

Pat Crandall, clerk and staff attorney for the Spokane-based Division Three, says her court regularly moves around its 20 county jurisdiction, an area as large as that occupied by some foreign nations. When they do, Division Three judges aim their visits at school kids.

"With the varied locations where the Court holds hearings, we have the opportunity for many schools to attend hearings without the need to travel to Spokane." In the past two years, she said the court has traveled to Yakima, Richland, Prosser and to the Cascade mountain town of Leavenworth, a trip two-thirds the width of the state away from the Court's home base in Spokane.

Sometimes, the division simply travels across town. Last April, Crandall said, a three-member panel heard cases in the moot courtroom of Spokane's Gonazaga law school.

Sometimes the kids come to the court. It has become a spring tradition for the ninth grade class of Evergreen Junior High in Spokane to visit the Court in its Spokane courtroom. Next month, students from Eastern Washington University will drive down from Cheney to hear oral arguments.

Advantages to courts and communities

Alexander says feedback from the public has always been positive, and that payoffs accrue on several levels to both the court and the community.

"On an appellate court, I think it promotes collegiality," said Alexander of one of the benefits. "I think I've gotten to know my fellow judges much better because of those trips, and I have a lot of fond memories," he said.

Hunt agrees, adding that her Court is able to give the public a more realistic view of what really happens in court, as compared to what it sees on television. She also sees an opportunity to awaken students' interest to the possibility of law-related careers.

"The Court benefits from higher visibility in the community and, we hope, improved confidence in the judiciary," said Hunt. "We have received positive feedback, especially from the students who have attended our oral arguments. With the cutting of civics from some schools' curriculum, it is more important than ever that we do whatever we can to help the public understand their very important roles as jurors in the judicial system, and as voters of judges at election time."

"It's helpful for citizens to know these courts exist," Alexander said, "and maybe unravel a little of mystery surrounding the court system particularly with the youth. It's truly one of those win-win situations."