Community Focused Court Planning Committee

The Alameda County Superior Court is reaching out to the community to hear what court services are important to you. The Court wants to incorporate the community's needs into the planning process for improving court services. For more information about the Committee's goals, please click here.

Process To Date

A Community Focused Court Planning Committee was developed with Judge Gordon Baranco appointed as the chairperson. Through a process including twelve community forums attended by more than two hundred people, as well as input from judges and legal community professionals, a community focused Court Strategic Plan was developed. The plan was approved by the Court's judges and is now being implemented.

The Next Steps

The Court continues to implement the Strategic Plan and incorporate community suggestions to improve access to justice. Each meeting of the Community Focused Court Planning Committee provides updates and feedback that drive new initiatives for updates of the Court's Strategic Plan.

The Superior Court has implemented a number of language access initiatives outside of the courtrooms to improve access to justice for limited and non-English speaking court users.  Since 2007, these initiatives include developing a language access plan, improved multilingual signage, providing training to bilingual court employees, distribution of multilingual legal dictionaries for bilingual employees, and translation of local court documents and forms.  The Court continues to work towards improving multilingual resources to increase access to justice for all.

 

Since 2000, public information stations have been opened at court facilities throughout Alameda County. The stations are staffed by volunteers who have been trained by court staff to provide directions and information to the many daily visitors to the Court. To further improve access to the courts, many of these employees are fluent in other languages and are able to provide assistance to non- or limited English speaking court users.  The Court is also actively involved in community outreach through its Bench Speakers Bureau, court tours, Law Day events, as well as other events throughout the year. 

 

Jury

In January 2000, the Court instituted a one day-one trial jury service policy. This policy provides that prospective jurors only need to appear for service for one day or, if selected to hear a trial, for the duration of that one trial. This avoids weeks of uncertainty for jurors and employers regarding when jury service begins and ends. The California Legislature, with the support of the Alameda County Superior Court, passed, and the Governor signed, legislation increasing the fee paid to jurors from $5.00 per day, to $15.00 per day. The California Administrative Office of the Courts completed taping of a juror information videotape which will assist jurors in understanding the court system and the role of jurors. The taping was done at the Rene C. Davidson courthouse in Oakland.

 

For a complete copy of the Alameda County Superior Court Strategic Plan, please contact:

Adam Byer

Planning, Research, Public Information, & Court Services

Rene C. Davidson Courthouse, Room 104-M

1225 Fallon Street

Oakland, CA 94612