MEETING MINUTES

November 2, 2009

Attendance

Present were: Judge Butts, Judge Anderson, Judge Gray, Richard Callahan, Roan Confer, Jr., Robert Cronin, Charles Greevy, III, Jennifer Heverly, William Knecht, Joy Reynolds McCoy, Joseph Rider, J. Michael Wiley, W. Jeffrey Yates and Ed Mitchell.

Judge Assignments for 2010 and 2011 will be as follows:

Civil: Judge Anderson and Judge Gray
Criminal: Judge Butts and Judge Lovecchio
Family: Judge McCoy
Orphans: Judge Butts transitioning to Judge Lovecchio

Civil trial lists will be published on the LLA website. Attorneys with cases on the list will get individual notification of the dates of the trial term and jury selection and the date and time of the pretrial conference. They will not get a copy of the entire list. The notice will inform them that the entire list is available on the LLA website. This measure is to save costs by reducing paper and printing costs.

A court website will be implemented.

The 2010 Court Calendar is available on the LLA website.

Judge McCoy and Judge Lovecchio will be in school the second full week of January. Judge Brown and Judge Keiser will cover.

Because there will be a full compliment of judges beginning in January, the court will be relying less heavily on senior judges and even less heavily on visiting judges.

Judge McCoy has spoken with the family court hearing officers pertaining to updating of forms used in family court.

The swearing in of the new judges and other county officials will be Monday, January 4, 2010 at 10 a.m. in the Community Theatre in the Trade & Transit Center Building.

Judge Butts will move to Courtroom #1. Judge Anderson and Judge Gray will remain in their current offices. Judge Lovecchio will be in Courtroom #4. Judge McCoy will be in Courtroom #5. Judge Smith, Judge Brown, and Judge Keiser will have offices in the Courthouse.

Forms which can be filed in the Prothonotary’s office are being revised to eliminate Social Security numbers.

The annual meeting of the LLA will be January 11, 2010. The public service of Judge Brown and Judge Keiser will be acknowledged.

The PBA House of Delegates passed a resolution to appoint a commission within the PBA to discuss the Pennsylvania State Constitution and, if appropriate, make recommendations for amendments.

The present personal exemption for federal estate tax is $3.5 million. For persons who die during the year 2010, there is no federal estate tax. After 2010, the exemption goes back to $1 million.

The exemptions for gift tax are different than the exemptions for federal estate tax.

There will be a swearing in of new attorneys on December 4, 2009 at 4 p.m.

There was a general discussion of concern by the court and the bar of the declining attendance at functions such as swearing in of new attorneys and special sessions of court in remembrance of deceased attorneys. Suggestions on what can be done to improve attendance are requested.

Respectfully submitted,

C. Edward S. Mitchell, Chairman