New York City Bar Report Recommends Changes in the Appointment and Assignment Process for Family Court Judges Thursday, January 7, 2021 Delays in New York City Family Court proceedings too often result from an inadequate number of judges combined with a court structure that makes it difficult to allocate judges where they are most needed. Although these structural faults require legislative and constitutional changes, there are certain steps, according to a recent New York City Bar Association report, that the Office of Court Administration (OCA) and the Mayor’s Office should take now to improve the judicial appointment and assignment process. As members of the work group that produced the report, we are struck by the almost impossible burden placed on court administrators to manage efficiently an archaic and confusing system of 11 separate and distinct trial courts with varying jurisdictions. Due to the lack of sufficient Family Court judges, OCA assigns judges to the Family Court on a temporary basis from other courts. Every time a judge moves from one court to another, cases are reassigned, causing delay and confusion among litigants. Moreover, when judges are assigned without experience or expertise in family law as they take over cases lacking familiarity with prior proceedings, they understandably do not perform at the same level of efficiency as fulltime Family Court Judges.