Q. 1
One of the advantages of this case-management system is that it helps in ensuring uniformity and consistency in the manner in which individual cases are disposed of by the courts. The hybrid case management system also makes it easier to effectively and efficiently manage the court staff. Moreover, the case management approach ensures better service to those seeking legal services or filing complaints in courts. It makes the court system or station to be more organized and hence reducing the backlog of cases if properly managed. Further, this case management approach is less costly as it saves the court money that would be spent when there is no proper case management system in place (Gensler, 2010).
Additionally, the case management system is beneficial to the court as it makes the management of different individual cases possible and thus reducing the burden on the court to dispose of cases. Through the case management system, the court can also dispose of cases in a more expedient manner than if there were no case management at all. The expeditious disposition of cases is important for the proper functioning of the criminal justice or court system as it promotes access to justice. It assures all those who have filed their complaints with the court that such complaints will be examined within the shortest time possible. Through this expediency, the confidence in the court system will certainly be high and hence promoting justice. Further, this case management system is advantageous in that it relieves the judges and other court staff off too much work that would reduce their ability to carry out their duties in a more efficient manner. According to Swenson (2011), the master case management system is also advantageous in that it makes it possible for judges who are specialized in particular aspects of litigation and with expertise in certain areas of law to be assigned specific cases. This way, it may be easier to rid the courts of the backlog of cases.
However, there are some difficulties of this hybrid case management approach. Firstly, the approach is likely to lead to a backlog of cases in the long run as it reduces the number of cases that an individual judge hears within a specific period. Also, there is a difficulty of implementing such an approach due to its complex nature. It may create confusion to the court staff when it comes to the allocation of duties to the court staff. Furthermore, there could be a difficulty of distributing legal duties to the court staff and the judges. There could be difficulties in avoiding a backlog of cases and hence the judges may be overwhelmed by the number of cases they have to listen to in a specific period.
Moreover, as Gensler (2010) observes, there could be a difficulty of ensuring faster disposition of individual cases due to the confusion that may be created under such a case management system. Implementing such a case management system may also present difficulties. Another disadvantage of the individual and master calendar systems is that they may lead to the court being unable to handle all the important cases before it properly and hence lead to some cases taking longer than expected. Further, these systems do not ensure even distribution of work among judges, and they give the judges less incentive to update their dockets. Also, with these systems, it is not easy to pinpoint delays in the way cases are handled or disposed of by the courts.
Q. 2
In the criminal division of the court, various problems could arise with this case management approach or system. To begin with, there could arise the problem of criminal cases being unduly delayed due to the judges in the division taking the inordinately long time to study the criminal cases before them. Further, there could be a problem of one judge handling fewer cases than others in the other divisions when they are assigned to hear only one particular type of criminal case. It may create the problem of imbalance whereby some judges may be overworked with caseloads while others have few cases to handle.
Subsequently, such a scenario would create the problem of unfairness in the criminal division and possible fallout due to some judges having to handle more case while others handle few cases. There could also arise the problem of lack of accountability among the judges in the criminal division due to lack of proper oversight over them and the type or number of criminal cases they can handle at any given time. With the judges in the criminal division being overworked with more caseloads, there could arise the problem of delay in the hearing of criminal cases because of lack of appropriate research on the criminal cases. The criminal division may also experience the problem of inadequate capacity to hear all the criminal cases within the scheduled timelines because of the poor and skewed distribution of case among the judges in the criminal division.
References
Gensler, S.S. (2010). Judicial case management: Caught in the crossfire. Duke Law Journal, 60, 669-743
Swenson, K. (2011). Taming the Unpredictable: Real world adaptive case management: Case studies and practical guidance. Lighthouse Point, FL: Future Strategies Inc.
