April Hearsay Contributors

Whitney Hawke

Wheeler Boyd, Attorney’s at Law

Whitney Hawke is an Associate at Wheeler Boyd. Her practice focuses primarily on family law.

Josh Sherman

Jane Clark Legal P.C.

Josh Sherman is a Civil Litigation Associate at Jane Clark Legal P.C. where he focuses his practive on plaintiff medical malpractice.

Bryan Farrell Clark County District Court

Bryan Farrell is the Clark County District Court Administrator. He was appointed to the position on June 1, 2022.

April is here! Spring has sprung! And while the weather may not have gotten the memo (it was 39 degrees when I got into my car this morning), the cherry blossoms are blooming and spring festivities are underway. We held Barrister’s Ball last month, which I would venture to say was the most successful one we have ever had. Our spring Swearing-in Ceremony was held on April 17th, welcoming new Washington lawyers who successfully passed the winter Bar Exam. And planning is underway for all of our summer events, so stay tuned.

March and April also typically bring the dreaded “spring cleaning.” And while I personally have not engaged in any drastic spring cleaning this year (everything is hard with a toddler…), the Superior Court and Superior Court Clerk’s office have. The Clerk’s office unveiled new hours starting April 3 and is now open from 9:00am-4:00pm, closed for the lunch hour. Our Superior Court bench also enacted a big calendar overhaul, which has been slowly phased in over the last few months.

This overhaul was prompted by the consultant’s report from the National Center for State Courts which was commissioned by Superior Court and finalized in the summer of 2022. Based on the recommendations from this report, Superior Court first split into three divisions: Family, Civil, and Criminal judicial rotations. In early March, the Family Law calendar changes were implemented. Most notably, the three Superior Court Commissioners took on more specialized docket roles, with Commissioner Hayes handling more of the Juvenile Dockets, Commissioner Ellis focusing on Dependency Dockets, and Commissioner Sasser taking charge of most Civil Protection Order Dockets. Finally, there were significant changes to the Criminal Dockets that began on April 3. First appearances have been moved from the morning to the afternoon, shifting many previously held afternoon dockets to the morning. The Criminal Judges have also added both omnibus and status conference hearings as part of normal case scheduling in an effort to prevent backlog and resolve cases in a more efficient manner.

If you have any questions about these changes, check the Superior Court website or reach out to Superior Court Administration. And hopefully your spring cleaning is more successful than mine…