Chief Justice Martin announces new judicial commission members

The committee in charge of writing the first comprehensive report on North Carolina’s judicial system in over 20 years has been selected.

North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin announced on May 28 the five members of what is being called the Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice. Martin made the commission a point of emphasis in his State of the Judiciary speech to the General Assembly this past March.

Martin said he expects the commission to specifically address ways North Carolina courts can improve civil justice, criminal investigations and adjudications, the application of technology, the future of legal services, and public trust and confidence in the courts.

The committee will be required to submit its recommendations in a report to the public and the General Assembly before the beginning of the 2017 legislative term. Martin outlined his goals for the committee before the Wake County Bar Association’s June 2 luncheon.

“One of the great challenges of public identities is effective strategic planning, because you have a real challenge with institutional memory along with people coming in and out of public service,” Martin said.

Sharon Gladwell, a spokesperson for the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, confirmed that when the report is released in 2017, it will be the first review of the state’s judicial system since 1996. Before the Medlin Commission was implemented in 1996, the state’s judicial system wasn’t evaluated in a public document for nearly 40 years.

“We have confidence and expectations the commission will evaluate how to best strengthen our court system, ensuring that we continue to provide justice for all,” Gladwell said.

The five-member commission will consist of North Carolina Bar Association president Catharine Arrowood, Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jackson, Duke Law School dean David Levi, retired magistrate judge William Webb and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina president and CEO Brad Wilson.

“Our thought here is I’ve done a lot of research already about the Bell Commission of the 1960s and the Medlin Commission of the 1990s and the contribution that both initiatives made to our justice system,” Martin said. “Our plan is to build on that strong foundation while also securing ratifications to current law in our General Assembly to help get changes in the law to help facilitate.”

Martin has split up the subject matter by giving each member of the five-person committee a specialty to focus on but has encouraged cross-pollination discussion among certain topics such as the advancement of technology in the practice of law.

“Our state court system is so far behind technologically it’s not even funny, but I’m so happy Justice Jackson will be leading the charge in that area,” Arrowood said.

The changes in technological advancement were a highlighted topic in Martin’s speech to the WCBA.

“We find ourselves in the midst of rapid change in the profession, not just in North Carolina but on a global level,” Martin said. “Twenty years ago, an attorney worried about the disclosing of confidential information may have been in fear of leaving documents at the courthouse or failing to secure a file cabinet. Now an attorney may do the same thing by leaving an unlocked smartphone at a restaurant, or allowing those documents to be sent out via iCloud.”

Wilson has been assigned the topic of public trust and confidence in the judiciary system and law profession.

“I am thrilled to commend Chief Justice Martin for realizing, quite frankly, that it is past time for this type of commission to occur,” Wilson said. “So much has changed in this time gap, but what we all have is an opportunity to take a hard look at where we’re going and how we plan to get there in years to come.”

Wilson joined Blue Cross & Blue Shield a year before the last comprehensive judicial report was released in 1995. He previously practiced law and served as general counsel to former Gov. Jim Hunt, directing the governor’s legislative strategy and heading his legal department.

As she finishes up her term as president of the NCBA, Arrowood will be its third president to serve on such a committee, after the NCBA was represented in 1958 and 1996.

“I’m so pleased and proud Chief Justice Martin has given the Bar Association the opportunity to once again have a big voice in this report that will be looked at for years,” Arrowood said. “We represent 20,000 lawyers statewide as one of the largest bar associations in the country, so we’ll be able to shape any suggested changes in the profession through the vision of all folks in the law profession”

Arrowood, who has been a partner at the Parker Poe firm in Raleigh since 1982, has been assigned the topic of the future of legal services and specifically, how the state can provide more economically viable legal services without jeopardizing the the standards of the standards and practices of the profession.

“This is a monumental task Chief Justice Martin has asked us to undertake, simply because we live in a very different time now in 2015,” Arrowood said.

“The Bell Commission back in 1958 brilliantly created the unified court system we still use today. I don’t know where we ranked back then, but we are the ninth-largest populated state in the country now. We must now take into account how our courts can be best designed to ensure the future of the law profession and the public who seeks that service in our state.”

Follow Matthew Stevens on Twitter @NCLWStevens