Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen is recommending a reduction in the number of private attorneys the state is paying to oversee some court proceedings, like pre-trial hearings. They’re called magistrates and Iowa law requires at least one magistrate per county.
“Magistrates in our state are part-time judicial officers and they are permitted to practice law outside of their judicial responsibilities,” she said Wednesday. “Their pay is based on an expectation that they will spend about 31% of their time performing magistrate duties.”
Christensen, who delivered the annual “Condition of the Judiciary” address yesterday, told legislators magistrates in just eight counties are spending about half of their time on work from the bench and magistrates in 16 other counties are almost spending the required amount of time as a judicial officer. The rest spent most of their time in private practice.
“75 (county magistrates) are far below the target, some as low as 4%,” she said, but still being paid to spend 31% of their time as a magistrate.
Christensen is asking the legislature to repeal the requirement that each county have a magistrate.
“The solution we propose is to reduce the number of magistrates required by statute and, when necessary, assign some magistrates to serve multiple counties to ensure that the workloads are property aligned,” she said. “I’m not saying we don’t need magistrates…We absolutely do. They play a critical role in the judiciary. However, we have to ensure that our resources are being used wisely and effectively.”
Christensen said some magistrates and judges have asked her if this will hurt rural county seat communities. The chief justice suggested her plan is likely to mimic the so-called “Work Share” program for clerks of court, as the workload from larger counties is redistributed to clerks in small counties so court filings are processed as quickly as possible.
“It ensures that every county, no matter its size, remains relevant and engaged in the judicial process,” Christensen said. “I am confident that the modernization of our magistrate system has the potential to be just as successful.”
Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant is the Republican who leads the House panel that will draft the budget for Iowa’s judicial branch. Lohse said it’s clear magistrates in some areas of the state aren’t being used effectively.
“I’m relatively new to this state. Only been here 30 years,” Lohse said, laughing. “There’s a reason that the magistrate system is the way that it is, but times change and at some point we may need to look that as a system that also needs to change with the times.”
The chief justice also asked Lohse and other lawmakers to raise pay for judges as well as the private attorneys appointed to represent indigent clients. The legislature has increased funding for indigent defense in each of the past three years, but Chief Justice Christensen said the pay needs to be higher to get more attorneys to take on indigent clients, many of whom are juveniles.