Late last week after submitting a post on this Site, I was contacted by Orfelia Mayor, Esq., Supervisor of Division 1 (Traffic and Misdemeanor Division), at the Broward Clerk of Courts Office.

Orfelia asked if I would be interested in meeting with her for the purpose of providing a different perspective, and although initially hesitant, I was very pleasantly surprised when she acknowledged that there were potential problems within her office and that “customer service and accountability” were very important to her.

Yesterday I met with Orfelia and her Operations Manager, Mary Mossie.  First and foremost, Orfelia has only been the Supervisor of these divisions for 4-6 months.  She is making changes within the division, addressing customer service issues, and looking for ways to improve her department.  The three of us discussed the fact that we, the Members of the Florida Bar, as well as our staff, are a major component of her client base, and she pointed out repeatedly her desire to advance Traffic and Misdemeanor to a customer service oriented operation.

At the end of our discussion, I agreed to meet again with Ms. Mayor and present various suggestions that are both reasonable and within the capabilities of the Clerk’s office.  I spoke with Jeff Ivashuk and Eric Schwartzreich and as I knew, they both agreed to either participate or request one of their members to assist in plan development.  In light of the aforementioned, I am asking that you, the people who use the Clerk’s office, Attorneys, Paralegals, runners, etc., take a minute and write your CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions listing your name and point of contact.

Here are three suggestions that I provided to Ms. Mayor, specifically because I wanted to see just how committed the Clerk’s office is to basic change.  Feel free to further refine my thoughts or come up with new and creative ideas. **Note these three items as outlined were discussed in an interactive manner with all three of us discussing and modifying the concepts.

1) Date stamping of your legal documents.  Tired of waiting 15-20 minutes because the Clerk is getting a file for the attorney in front of you.......At the front window or window 6 during certain hours (8:30-10:30 AM - 3:30-4:30 PM) someone could be waiting to stamp your pleadings - no line, no waiting.   Think about it -- How do we improve it?

2)   Daily mail list.  Since the “interpretation of the advisory opinion about the mail list, we are now forced to get the mail list from the Clerk’s office versus download from the comfort of our collective thrones.  Same theory tired of waiting 5-15 minutes because the person in front of you is trying to convince the Clerk why that 2nd Suspension wasn’t applicable and therefore H.T.O. is not applicable.   Hit the express lane.

3) Need a P.C. for your client’s Administrative Review, subpoenas to do a Public Records Request for Dispatch tapes before they scrub them, or because you really want to read what that attorney you know did to get arrested?  The Clerk is looking into either implementing or reimplementing a specific e-mail site, or possibly fax number, wherein you can order the items that you need, the Clerk will get them, deduct the amount from your escrow account, and it will be waiting for you- no line, no waiting.

None of this is either overly intellectual or exceedingly deep stuff.  It does not require tremendous expenditures from anyone; however, these thoughts can be implemented by a conscientious and customer oriented Clerk’s office. 

Although it is too early to say if Ms. Mayor is the solution, at-least someone is FINALLY trying.  Please take a few minutes, think of what the Clerk’s office can do to improve their service, write your suggestion below or contact me and I will discuss it with you and submit any reasonable ideas crediting the person who forwarded it.  It is a lot easier to call someone a derogatory name and criticize the Clerk then it is to stand up and address the problem, please help yourself by participating.

John Fry