"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
In 2007, the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims (OJCC) began expanding the scope of the statutorily required (section 440.45(5)) Annual Report. In 2006, the report was 39 pages. In 2007, with the addition of individual charts for each judge, the report was 164 pages. Certainly, the OJCC produces and publishes a great many statistics.
By 2018, it had expanded to 297 pages. That may seem like a great many, but it included the Settlement and Mediation Report. The OJCC is required to report specifically upon the settlement of totally controverted cases, see section 440.20(11)(a). The report of those settlements was expanded, however, beginning with the first Settlement and Mediation Statistics report in 2010. So, 49 pages of the 2018 report are attributable to that resolution-specific data.
If not apparent to even the most casual observer, the OJCC is adept at counting things. Most of those things counted are what the Florida Legislature instructs us to count in section 440.45. There are some exceptions to that broad categorization, some additional things are thought to be worthy to "count" and thus are counted.
But, back in 2007, there was a discussion of the relationship between bench and bar. Many today will not recall the nadir of that relationship in the early part of this century. There were accusations, recriminations, distrust, and dissension. There were perceptions regarding professionalism and collegiality. One of our first steps toward alleviating that was a joint continuing education meeting with the Florida judges and the Executive Council of the Workers' Compensation Section of The Florida Bar. It was a professionalism program. Unfortunately, that effort was punctuated by one of the judges joining the meeting about 30 minutes late (irony).
The second step was a meeting of bar leaders and judges, a committee to discuss the next steps. The question was how to deal with professionalism perceptions and build bridges between bench and bar. The outgrowth of that effort was a joint judge/mediator survey, which the committee decided should be an annual effort. This is a chance for the Bar to provide feedback both in numerical rating and comments. The consensus is that while litigation volumes and adjudication speed are numbers that can be counted, perhaps there is more that also should count.
The committee accepted that the volumes and speed calculated from the various orders and hearings was relevant. They contended that there are attributes of judges that perhaps cannot be measured in that manner, but that should nonetheless count. Thus, the survey was born in 2008. It was a struggle in development, beginning with a commercial platform which later came to be called Survey Monkey. That remained the paradigm for four years, through 2011.
In 2012, we evolved to a platform that was more customized and user-friendly. This allowed the person taking the survey to select the persons about whom she or he wished to opine, and did not waste her/his time clicking to skip each of the others. We have retained that format now for 7 years.
In April 2019, the OJCC will launch the 12th annual survey. It affords the opportunity to subjectively rate judges and mediators based on your perceptions and experiences. We ask that you not rate judges of mediators that you have not appeared before recently, the past year. And, the survey provides an opportunity for comments. The point of comments is not to belittle, insult, or slur someone. The point is for professionals to have an opportunity to explain their perceptions and feelings; and to provide constructive feedback and suggestions for positive change or evolution.
Certainly, "not everything that can be counted counts," and likewise, what does count is up to you. The survey is your opportunity to provide feedback. Tell us what you believe is important, and how we can do a better job.
The survey vendor will send you a link by email. It will come from ojcc@privatesurvey.net and the link will look something like this:
http://www.privatesurvey.net/home/index/29d557cc1d9c48e0bb024f234232362eca93da3274be14d778656e0a0ba1d8c2d
And, the subject line will say "2019 Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims Survey." The survey invitation is being sent to every attorney who is registered for e-filing with e-JCC. The link is being sent to the attorney's primary email address. So, alert your email program to trust ojcc@privatesurvey.net, watch your spam folder just in case, and please take this opportunity to tell us what you think.
If you are a registered e-JCC user and you do not receive your link, feel free to email david.langham@doah.state.fl.us and we will see what we can do to get you the opportunity to contribute.
I am proud of this joint effort and look forward to compiling the results for 2019.
If you are a registered e-JCC user and you do not receive your link, feel free to email david.langham@doah.state.fl.us and we will see what we can do to get you the opportunity to contribute.
I am proud of this joint effort and look forward to compiling the results for 2019.