The judges will go to the counties where the need seems to be the greatest. This will follow recommendations from the state s judicial department. Mitchell said he expects opposition only from hard fiscal conservatives, and possibly democrats who are concerned one republican governor may appoint so many new judges. This is just legislation catching up to a situation that should have happened ten years ago, said Michael Valdez, director of legislative relations for the Colorado State Bar Association. Valdez said it s the complexity of cases, which has also added to the backlog.
Many cases require more judge time.
There are many more domestic relations cases, often pursued with no lawyers, because of the cost of litigation. This can increase the judge time on these cases, he said. Peter Schild, Boulder attorney and former head public defender agreed, there are more people in this state and they are involved with more complicated disputes. By warehouse he refers to seeking prison time instead of plea bargaining and offering probation. This causes more resistance and more litigation.