O’Connor expected to urge court reform

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is expected to urge state lawmakers to take action on lower court reform when she addresses an Arizona State University College of Law conference Nov. 27. O’Connor will the keynote speaker for the oneday session on “Arizona’s People’s Courts: Proposals for Improvement.’ ‘ Leaders from Arizona’s political and judicial arenas will attend the conference to hear findings of a six-month ASU study of the state’s municipal and justice court system . The $48,000 study was funded by the Arizona Legislative Council, a legislative committee, with the objective of providing politically workable suggestions for lower court reform, according to study director Dr. Jo Ann G. Pedrick. Justice O’Connor’s ties to the matter go back to 1974, when she was state senator and was appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court to chair an ad hoc committee on the topic. The ASU study is a cooperative effort between the College of Law and the Center of Criminal Justice in the College of Public Programs . Study co-directors are Willard Pedrick , ASU law professor and founding Law College dean, and Dr, Peter Haynes, ASU criminal justice professor. Pedrick chairs the Arizona State Bar : Committee on Lower Courts. For the research, 91 percent of the state’s lower court judges and 78 percent of selected attorneys practicing in the system completed questionnaires. More than 125 individuals who have had cases heard in justice or city courts were interviewed by telephone. The