By: Max Mitchell
Judge Gene Cohen (ret.) was quoted in The Legal Intellgencier article, “‘Receivership’ Ends With Elimination of Liaison Justice,” on January 30, 2016. The full article is available on The Legal Intelligencer website.
The state Supreme Court’s recent decision to eliminate the liaison justice role is a sign that the administrative problems that once clogged Philadelphia’s judicial system are long gone, according to court watchers and judicial officials.
The justices on Jan. 27 issued an order stating that the liaison justice position will be “vacated,” and “consistent with the treatment of all other judicial districts, no liaison justice will be appointed for the First Judicial District.”
According to Justice Kevin Dougherty, who took the Supreme Court bench at the beginning of the year after serving as the administrative judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas trial division, the change is an indication that the Philadelphia courts no longer need to be closely monitored.