Chief Judge Haden Honored by Judicial Conference

At luncheon at the Supreme Court, Chief Judge Charles

At the September 2002 meeting of the Judicial Conference, Chief Judge Charles H. Haden II stepped down as chair of the Executive Committee. The Judicial Conference marked his departure with the presentation of a resolution which read, in part,

The Executive Committee is the senior executive arm of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In addition to other duties, the Executive Committee acts on behalf of the Conference between regular sessions on matters requiring emergency action.

Management Training Helps Courts Executives

Court unit executives from across the country are participating in a unique series of management training workshops to examine their own wide-ranging—and changing—responsibilities.

The workshops address the numerous administrative responsibilities assigned to court unit executives, highlighting the major rules, available tools, and solutions to common problems in functional areas such as budget management, accounting, travel management, procurement and contracting, property management, space and facilities, security and emergency preparedness and human resources.

"The federal Judiciary is fortunate to have such an excellent group of court unit executives who, across the nation, distinguish themselves by their professionalism their commitment to supporting the mission of the federal Judiciary, and their industriousness," said Administrative Office Director Leonidas Ralph Mecham. "I believe the fact that the federal courts continue to be an example of administrative excellence is due, in major part, to the Judiciary’s court unit executives."

Unit executives received invitations to attend one of five 2 ˝ day seminars developed jointly by AO and court staffs. The first two workshops took place in Baltimore, Maryland and Seattle, Washington, during the summer of 2002 with three more programs to be held around the country in 2003, resources permitting. A sixth and final workshop will host federal public defenders. At every program, panels of court unit executives and AO officials discuss fundamentals of good administrative practices; then small groups exchange views on current issues and concerns.

Chief Judge John Lungstrum (D. Kan.), chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, spoke at the Baltimore workshop. "Devotion to duty, eagerness for innovation and attention to fiscal responsibility," Lungstrum told the unit executives, "are all values I have seen lived out over and over again in our court in Kansas, the courts with which I have had occasion to have contacts, the AO, and among judges and their staffs." He noted that the way in which the Judiciary is administered has changed vastly since the late 1980s when the courts, at Mecham’s initiative, entered a new era of budget decentralization.

"None of us alone can effectively deliver the services to the public that are expected of the judicial branch," said Lungstrum. "It is important to work together to achieve that goal and the primary focus is on you, the unit executives, to be the administrative leaders of our courts."

Judge John G. Heyburn (W. D. Ky.), chair of the Judicial Conference Budget Committee, also recognized the change in court administration in his remarks at the Seattle workshop. "First, one must recognize that today you administer judicial activities in a vastly different way than in the mid-80’s. This is all due to budget decentralization," Heyburn told the unit executives. "Clerks and probation chiefs are responsible for formulating budget and spending plans; interacting with judges; conducting complex procurements; dealing with vendors and suppliers; and accounting for millions of taxpayers dollars. These jobs require specialized skills and administrative talent."