On January 1, 2007 the Bankruptcy Judges of the Western District of
Michigan will initiate a Performance Appraisal process inviting comments
from all Court users, including attorneys who practice in the Western
District, professionals involved in bankruptcy cases, and the general
public. We believe that comments are more freely given when made to an
intermediate party rather than to the Clerk or a Judge; and ultimately
more effective when given to a well-respected intermediary who has the
trust of the participants. Consequently, we have decided that the best
way to do this is to have an attorney who never practices in the Court
serve as that intermediary.
Accordingly, the Bankruptcy Judges have
concurred in the selection of Attorney James Geary as the Bankruptcy
Court’s Judicial Performance Liaison. We are very pleased that Attorney
Geary has accepted and agreed to take on this role as of January 1,
2007.
For those of you who are not familiar with him, Attorney Geary
is a highly respected attorney, a partner and board certified trial
advocate in the Kalamazoo office of Howard & Howard, and former
president of both the West Michigan Chapter of the Federal Bar
Association, and the Kalamazoo County Trial Lawyers Association. Among
other accomplishments, he was twice a member of the State Bar of
Michigan’s U.S. Courts Committee, both a faculty and Committee member of
the Hillman Advocacy Institute and has served as a facilitative
mediator, neutral evaluator, mediator and arbitrator.
Mr. Geary does not practice in the bankruptcy court and his firm will screen him from
any Western District bankruptcy files it may have. Indeed, he well
understands the need to hold in confidence the names of the parties with
whom he speaks, filtering the information as necessary so that he can
relate it to the individual Judge or Clerk in a manner that does not
imply by circumstance, or in any other way, reveal a party’s identity.
The goal of this new program is to solicit and convey information that
will help the Bankruptcy Judges and the Clerk’s Office better serve the
public. We will seek your opinions and observations about the entire
Bankruptcy Court experience, including, but not limited to, judicial
demeanor; courtroom ambiance; treatment of attorneys and others; the
efficiency of motion calendars and trials; helpfulness of the Court’s
web page; professionalism of staff; responsiveness of the Clerk’s Office
and Chambers staff to inquiries and requests for assistance; timeliness
of decisions; and the overall tone of the Court. This also applies to
your observations about the Clerk’s office and its operations. We will
want to know what you think we do well and what you think we need to
improve.
Your candid participation and constructive comments will be
essential to the success of this process. Not the Judges nor their
staff, the Clerk or anyone on the Clerk’s staff, will ever inquire into
the identify of the source of any comment. That information will only be
disclosed if the source specifically requests or permits the disclosure.
Attorney Geary will invite contact from everyone involved in the
bankruptcy process by phone, in person or by e-mail. Based upon the
input he receives, he will meet with each of the Judges and the
clerk
on a regular basis to convey suggestions and observations as to that
Judge. Information that Attorney Geary transmits to any one of the
Judges will not be made public in any way.
Jamie’s address, telephone number and e-mail address are -
James H. Geary, Esq.
Howard & Howard Attorneys, PC
Comerica Building
Suite 800
151 S. Rose Street
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007
269.382.9707
Jhg@h2law.com
Please accept our
thanks for any future input and feedback that you provide.
This will help us as we strive to provide quality services to all court
users.
