Potential Court Closures Rile Lawyers | Marlborough, Westborough and Leominster on the chopping block
For Bruce Ledoux, the possible closure of Marlborough and Westborough District Courts — which state officials are considering — comes down to a simple formula.
Work from those courts would move to either Concord District Court or Worcester District Court, which means independent lawyers like Ledoux are looking at a longer commute to argue cases.
“The more time you’re behind the windshield of your car, the less time you’re spending with your clients, or doing some other work,” he said. “It would make it very difficult.”
Budget Pressure
In the face of a nearly 11 percent budget cut during the past three fiscal years, the state’s Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert Mulligan began reviewing ways to cut costs, including relocating and closing some district courts. In July, the state’s court relocation committee released a list of recommendations for possible court closures, including Marlborough, Westborough and Leominster district courts, along with almost a dozen other district, juvenile and appeals courts around the state.
“There are few reasonable choices remaining,” a press release from the relocation committee announcing the recommendations stated this summer.
Joan Kenney, a spokesperson for the state’s courts, said she could not comment on why individual courts were put on the recommendation list, but she did say the committee has a handful of criteria it is using to review the courts. Those include: the lease terms of the court buildings and expenses, personnel impact and staffing levels, the conditions of the facilities, building functions, geography, transportation issues and caseloads. The committee has no formal timeframe of when a decision will be made on the relocations, but it is currently solicited reviewing public comments.
Further complicating matters is that the courts are set up on a county system, meaning that if Westborough District Court closed, the work from that court would have to remain in Worcester County. It could not be transferred to Framingham District Court, which, even though it is closer, is in Middlesex County.
Closing any of the three Central Massachusetts courthouses would undoubtedly disrupt the legal environment the courthouses support in these communities.
District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said the state should find another way to trim its costs. Asked for a specific suggestion on where to cut, he deferred, saying: “It’s not my budget.”
But Early did say that Westborough, Leominster and Worcester District Courts are already overcrowded and overworked. It would be unfair, he said, to force residents and business people to make the trek from either Leominster to Westborough to Worcester.
“People should be guaranteed reasonable access to the courts and the justice system,” he said. “Closing the courts makes it tougher to get that access. That goes for witnesses, victims, even those accused of crimes.”
Patrick Hart, a Marlborough lawyer with Hart Law Offices, said lawyers will not be the only ones inconvenienced by having to travel.
“If the lawyer has to travel more, the client has to pay more,” he said. “This could dramatically increase travel expenses for lawyers and clients.”
Especially, he said, if Marlborough business is transferred to Concord District Court more than 25 miles away.
Foot Traffic
According to state district court records, Marlborough and Westborough are some of the busiest courts in the region.
Westborough District Court processed a total of 2,636 criminal defendants in 2009, with only Framingham, Dudley and Worcester district courts having more criminal cases. Marlborough had 2,423 criminal defendants, while Leominster processed 2,232 criminal defendants. If Westborough District Court were to close, officials have suggested moving the offices to Worcester District Court, which already processes 11,435 criminal defendants a year, by far the most in the county.
The general sense from lawyers in the area is that closing either, or all three of the courts under consideration, would be a large disruption. Natick District Court closed last year, but that court served only 1,244 criminal defendants, about half as much as Marlborough.
Ledoux, the Marlborough lawyer who lives in Westborough, did admit that the nature of the legal trade requires lawyers to travel far distances to see and represent various clients around the state.
He already travels in Boston and Cambridge regularly and travels between Westborough, Marlborough and Worcester. But, he said relocating these courts under consideration would mean he would be doing even more commuting around the state.
Municipal officials are worried about the closures too.
Al Gordon, Westborough police chief, estimates that his department’s budget for court work would at least double if his officers had to transport prisoners to Worcester, or had to travel the 10 miles to Worcester to appear in court. Putting cops in cars traveling to Worcester means they’re not out on the streets.
“We just can’t afford it,” he said.
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