Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

New Chief Justice Delivers State-Of-The-Judiciary Address on Tuesday

Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander will deliver his first state-of-the-judiciary address to a joint session of the state House and Senate at 10 a.m., Tuesday, January 16th in the House chamber in Olympia.

The new chief justice will discuss his goals for the state judiciary in the upcoming year, including two key proposals to be put in front of the Legislature this session. The first relates to improvements in the jury system proposed by the Washington State Jury Commission; the second, a set of reforms as proposed by the Board for Judicial Administration's Project 2001 Committee.

Alexander will discuss the need to provide clear authority of presiding judges; flexible assignments of judges to cases; and trial court coordination and collaboration. In regards to jury reform, he will be asking for an increase in jury fees statewide, and a reduction in the term of jury service to two-days or one-trial.

Alexander will also acknowledge several judges for their contributions to the judicial system the past year. Copies of his speech will be available online at www.courts.wa.gov, beginning at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

Alexander was sworn-in on January 8th as the court's 52nd chief justice, after being elected unanimously by the Court in November. He joined the state's highest bench in 1994 with over two decades of trial and appellate court experience behind him, having served as a judge of the superior court for Thurston and Mason Counties from 1973 through 1984, and as a judge of the Court of Appeals, Division Two from 1985 through 1994.

Alexander's address will be carried live by TVW, Washington's public affairs network. Feeds of the address are available by contacting Ginger Eagle at TVW at (360) 586-5555. For RealAudio replays of the address, visit TVW's homepage at www.tvw.org.