As we wait to see whether the Massachusetts legislature will throw the Judiciary a life line – in the form of a supplemental budget with funding to fill the egregious gap between what our state courts need and what the legislature appropriated – we need to gear up for the future. Not surprisingly, Fiscal Year 2013 is shaping up to be every bit as difficult as the past two fiscal years. The BBA is in the throes of what it now realizes is a “permanent campaign” to secure adequate funding for equal access to justice in Massachusetts.
Nearly every constituency grows organically. For example, when state university students lobby for increased funding for higher education, hundreds of students at Massachusetts’ public universities — along with faculty and staff members – arrive by the busload and fill the halls of the State House. They tell stories about what would happen if funding were to be cut from their line items. This grassroots effort yields results!
It’s a different story for the Judiciary. If you believe the courts have no constituency aside from lawyers, you’re only half right. Yes, a court is usually a place of last resort. Most litigants go kicking and screaming after other efforts to resolve their conflicts have been exhausted. Most people are not particularly happy about going to trial, and in fact many of them come out feeling even worse when they see the result. When the Judiciary makes its annual funding request to the legislature, the group most inclined to take up the cause and carry the torch is a small one.
One other constituency that understands the gravity of the situation facing our state courts and the value of a properly funded judiciary is the business community. In recent years, the Business Litigation Session has taken on a healthy caseload, demonstrating its value in making Massachusetts a more predictable place to do business. Yet the lack of proper funding threatens even the Business Litigation Session. Business leaders know that time is money. They know all too well that for their employees using the court system to resolve their own personal disputes or serve as witnesses, court delays mean a loss of productivity, which in turn hampers competitiveness.
Each of the last two years, Paul Dacier, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of EMC Corporation, has rallied other general counsel to plead the case for adequate court funding. To his credit, Paul recruited twenty-three other general counsel in 2010 and twenty-nine general counsel in 2011 at leading Massachusetts companies – including John Hancock, Fidelity, Partners HealthCare System, National Grid, TJX, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and others – to sign onto a letter supporting funding for the courts. While the signatories represent companies across Massachusetts, they are also lawyers and part of the constituency that understand the consequences of under funded courts.
-Kathleen Joyce
Government Relations Director
Boston Bar Association
