courthouse on Benefit Street.
The chief justice preaches virtues
of mediation
Frank J. Williams
Age: 62
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Position: Chief Justice, Rhode Island Supreme Court
Background: Appointed Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
by Gov. Lincoln Almond and unanimously confirmed by the Legislature in January
2001 after serving for nearly six years as Associate Justice of the Superior
Court. Williams is one of the nation’s leading authorities on the life and times
of Abraham Lincoln and one of the country’s most renowned collectors of Lincoln
memorabilia, having amassed an unsurpassed private library and archives that
ranks among the nation’s largest. His latest book, “Judging Lincoln,” is in
its second printing.
Education: Boston University (1962); Boston University School of Law
(1970)
Residence: Hope Valley
Caseloads in many Rhode Island courts have reached a five-year high. Throughout
the court system, caseloads have increased 6.5 percent since 2001. Despite that
caseload, 80 percent of all criminal cases filed in Rhode Island were resolved
within six months. Last year, more than 213,000 cases were filed – and 207,821
were disposed. That is a rate of 800 cases per day or one case for every five
Rhode Islanders.
Q. Can you please talk for a minute about the Alternative Dispute Resolution
approach – the very idea of settling matters out of court?
A. We’re going to start a mediation program in the Supreme Court this fall
for most civil cases that come up. I hope 50 percent of them will be resolved
by mediation.
Q. Is that new to Rhode Island?
A. Yes. Connecticut does it in its Supreme Court and the First Federal Circuit
does it. This is all consistent with my mantra of enhancing mediation. And in
your realm, the business world, it is absolutely essential. We’re talking about
business cases that might come up. And I know that Judge (Michael A.) Silverstein
– if not in a formal manner – on his business calendar has been pushing for
mediation. My ultimate goal on this is we enhance mediation throughout the state
so that we create a panel of mediators – not necessarily judges or lawyers,
but lay people who have expertise in insurance, banking, real estate … and they
will be chosen by the parties so that they can decide the resolution of their
case. We’re going to do this on my watch. It’s going to happen.
Q. And there is enough volume for this kind of approach?
A. In this disputatious society? The contention and lack of civility runs
rampant.
Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on the relationship between the governor
and leaders of the General Assembly.
A. I hate to see those two branches of government at odds over a budget …
or concerns that the governor had or the Legislature had that could not have
been worked out. I don’t think it’s a matter of not trying, I just think it
is a matter of communicating and working on the issues.
Q. How did the judicial branch fare in terms of the state budget?
A. We did OK. We’ve done better with each year that I have been chief. We
have had to fight, scratch, work, testify and provide position papers and data
every single day during this session to get what we got. The governor cut, understandably,
because of the condition of the state’s finances … he cut us like he did every
other state agency. Except, we’re not like every other state agency. We’re the
third branch of government. … We’ve never gotten 100 percent of what we have
requested – from the governor or the Legislature. The problem, historically,
is that we go to the governor like DCYF (Department of Children, Youth and Families)
or DBR (Department of Business Regulations) or the Department of Corrections
and we are treated as if we are a state administrative agency. But we’re not.
Q. You’ve mentioned one item within your budget, a relatively small but
important one, deals with Rhode Island Legal Services.
A. We got some good stuff, including $170,000 to add two more attorneys to
Rhode Island Legal Services. This is consistent with this vision of access to
justice – the call I gave members of the Bar Association. Everybody has got
to get into the act to represent those who can least afford attorneys if there
is going to be equal access to justice.
Q. You talk a lot about the need for lawyers to get out into schools to
talk to kids and to get out and perform community service … why is it that,
as a profession, lawyers do not command the respect that perhaps they deserve?
A. No, they don’t get that respect. It’s like Abraham Lincoln said, when he
wrote in 1850: “When you think of all the honors that are reposed on lawyers,
the probability of them being unethical is really not very distinct or vivid.
Because when you look really at the profession and the good they do … the reality
does not match the perception.”
Q. In terms of funding from the state budget, update us if you will on
the status of the Kent County Courthouse and some of the other old and failing
court buildings?
A. We’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that the bid is about
to be awarded for the garage, the first phase of Kent County. They’ll be hell
to pay if we aren’t in there by the summer of 2005. And you’re all invited to
help me with the plunger when we implode the current complex.
Q. It’s coming down?
A. That’s the plan. It’s a $1 million demolition. And by the way, we’re cheap.
There’s a civil military program that our new court administrator, Tom Bowman,
told me about, where we make a request to the Department of Defense … and they
send in combat engineers on a training exercise to take buildings down. They’ve
never done it in Rhode Island, but I’m going after them. That’s a million bucks
right there! Now, the big news is that we finally got approval for a new Traffic
Tribunal. It’s been below the radar screen. We’ve only been trying to get this
for eight years … to replace that abomination on Harris Avenue.
Q. What’s your take on new lawyers entering our courtrooms. What are they
good at – and where could improvements be made?
A. They need more practical experience. Hands on. When I came out, I had to
take a three-week orientation course on practical aspects. That’s now down to
one day. They could use more clinical work. They have clinics. There is a District
Court clinic at Roger Williams University. There used to be a Family Court clinic,
but I don’t think it exists anymore. They had them when I was in law school.
I think it should be mandatory that they take an “Alternative Dispute Resolution”
course. They have it now, but it’s an elective.
Q. Are there areas of law that may be lacking legal representation?
A. I’m not so sure. I think it’s more classes of people who are denied representation.
It’s a national problem. And unless we address that head on and we do a couple
of things … that is, lawyers pitching in. They already have a volunteer lawyer
program at the Bar Association, which is good, but I am talking about going
far beyond that and representing for nothing, one case a year. And unless we
increase the fees that we give attorneys on the indigent defense list, we’re
going to lose our justice, independence and honor. That’s our slogan. And there’s
no reason we should have to lose that.
Q. Do we have enough public defenders?
A. No. We don’t have enough public defenders. We don’t have enough people
in Rhode Island Legal Services. They don’t make enough money. They need more
money and more people there. I give them a lot of credit for their devotion
to public service.
Q. The Attorney General (Patrick Lynch) recently suggested that the litigation
surrounding The Station nightclub could take three years to complete. Does that
make sense to you?
A. Yes. There are a lot of issues here. One is jurisdiction. Some cases haven’t
even been filed yet, which is fine. I applaud lawyers who do not rush to the
courthouse steps until they have as many facts as they possibly can before filing
a complaint … especially in determining who the defendant should be. There have
been some filed in the U.S. District Court for the district of Rhode Island.
There have been at least two filed in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut.
There is a federal statute that you keep hearing about – a mass tort statute
that came to be about a month before the fire. It says that where there are
75 or more victims and some are from out of state, the federal court can take
jurisdiction. It’s discretionary. That’s what’s on the table right now … And
there’s another policy concern that is even more riveting than where the matter
is tried. For what? Who has the money to pay these victims and the survivors
of those who died? I was talking to former Gov. (Bruce) Sundlun. We were estimating
that in present day dollars, you’re looking at a sum of between $200 and $300
million. Is that why Budweiser is being sued … because they had posters? I don’t
know. Does West Warwick have it? Of course not. So where is the money going
to come from, assuming there are judgements against some people or institutions?
That’s the big issue here. Because, unfortunately, in our system that’s all
you can do for people who are aggrieved and hurt – money. You can’t bring them
back.
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