In an imperious outpouring of advice, New York City Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo purports to offer insight into how to improve inefficiencies in the courts in order to increase performance and accountability (see “10 Suggestions for Court Reform,” NYLJ, 12/07/09, at 6). We feel compelled to respond to his misguided assertions, his misplaced blame and his attacks on the state trial judges.
In large measure, his facile proposals amount to an echo of reforms that are under way or have already been adopted by our former and current chief judges. For example, his suggestions that judges be made more accountable by creating, maintaining and analyzing our data, making “greater use” of 60-day reports, and extending the concept of standards and goals to individual judges, are unnecessary to the point of being insulting. Every one of these items has already been implemented by the Office of Court Administration, which on a constant basis compiles and circulates large amounts of information regarding judges’ job performance.
