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Government lawyers Section Chairs: AlexaCline— OfficeoftheStateAttorney & ChristianKatchuk— 13thJudicialCircuitCourt
Whenever I tell someone that I serve as general counsel for a judicial circuit, their response is usually the same:“ I didn’ t even know the courts had that.” The role is largely behind the scenes, which makes it surprisingly difficult to explain. On any given day, the job might involve drafting administrative orders, advising the chief judge, coordinating with court partners, or, occasionally, herding cats. The only constant is that every day looks a little different.
Each of the state’ s twenty circuits have their own general counsel, but the day-to-day job duties vary from circuit to circuit. As the third largest circuit in the state, we have seventy judges as well as over 200 employees that fall under court administration. My job usually starts each day with checking my email to see if anything popped up overnight. We have at least one judge on call twenty-four hours a day, so, inevitably, things happen overnight that will need to be addressed. Maybe the duty judge had an issue accessing our eWarrants system or a judge received a last-minute motion to disqualify that needs review before the trial starts at 8:30 a. m. Those
types of things get immediate priority.
Once I put out any fires, I’ m turning to my to-do list for the day. Am I waiting on one of our administrative judges to approve language that the Clerk’ s Office is requesting to be added to an administrative order? I’ ll circle back to try and get an answer. Did a new law go into effect that I know will require an update to a provision within one of our problem-solving courts procedures? I need to get proposed language over to the relevant judge as well as any impacted parties.
Remember the 200 employees I mentioned above? Twenty of them are judicial staff attorneys who form the Circuit’ s legal department. Each staff attorney is assigned to assist between one and seven judges with any research or writing matters that arise. While they handle the majority of the traditional legal work that is being performed, they may need to discuss a particularly complex or unique issue or relay a concern from one of their judges. I have to keep an electronic version of my to-
inshort, myjobis tomakesurethat whenissuesarise( andtheyalways do!), thecourthasa clearpathforward.
do list because things are constantly being added, delayed, and re-prioritized.
Every day consists of at least one meeting— perhaps with our criminal justice stakeholders, the executive Administrative Office of the Courts team, or even just with my assistant general counsel, whose insight is so valuable that I would be lost without it. Those conversations inevitably add new items to my to-do list and often shift my priorities for the day. I meet with the Chief Judge nearly every day to keep him apprised of current issues, review matters requiring his signature, and discuss what may be coming down the road. In short, my job is to make sure that when issues arise( and they always do!), the court has a clear path forward. n
Author: Christian Katchuk – Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court read and share the lawyer magazine in digital format online now at hillsbar. com.
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