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2 Concil. Cts. Rev. 1 (1964)

handle is hein.journals/fmlcr2 and id is 1 raw text is: THE COURT THAT PAYS DIVIDENDS (Following is the major portion of an address by the Honorable Roger Alton Pfaff, Presiding Judge, Conciliation Court, Los Angeles, given before the Fresno Bar Association January 31, 1964. It provides a concise summary of the mechanics and goals of the ConciliationCourt on its 25th anniversary year. - Editor.) The Conciliation Court of Los Angeles County celebrates~its 25th Anniversary this year. For the first 15 years after its establishment in 1939 the court operated with slight success, receiving lukewarm support by both bench and bar, and in some in- stances, open antagonism. In 1955 the Legislature, at the Court's request, made sweeping amendments to the Conciliation Court Act, established high professional standards for the Court's marriage counselors, and deleted certain mandatory pro- visions which were objectionable to the legal profession. Since that time the Conciliation Court has received national recognition for its outstanding record in marital reconciliations. An unexpected dividend which no one ever en- visaged or contemplated when the Conciliation Court was created is that it is perhaps one of the finest public relations programs that the bench and bar has ever had. We all know that the losing party in litigation is unhappy, and the successful party feels he has been put to unnec- essary expense to achieve justice. However, couples in the Conciliation Court feel grateful and voice their praise of both the court and lawyers if a reconciliation is ef- fected, and even if reconciliation fails, they are grateful to their attorney and to the Judge that someone has taken a personal interest in them and their problems. Reasons for Success There are a number of reasons for the success of the progress of the Los Angeles Conciliation Court: In the first place, the Los Angeles Conciliation Court's procedures are noncompulsory. We are not saddled with each and every divorce case with minor children under the ages of 14 or 16 whether there is a chance of recon- ciliation or not. Our counselors and attaches are not swamped with a constant and unending deluge of cases, many of which are completely fruitless and should never be the subject of.a professional marriage counselor's time. Of the over 4,300 petitions filed in 1963, they came principally from the following sources: (a) Attorney referrals, where the lawyer, after consultation with his client, felt that there was no real cause for divorce. Over 50% of the petitions filed in our court were from attorneys. (b) Referrals from Judges and Commissioners during a hearing for temporary pendente lite orders. Over 200 referrals every month come from this source, where the Judge or Commissioner feels that there is a chance to save the marriage. Over one-half of such referred couples voluntarily file a petition. (c) A pamphlet informing the parties to a divorce action is mailed out promptly after the divorce complaint has been filed, where there are children under 18 years of age, informing the parties of the problems of divorce and the availability of the Conciliation Court. Since 1959 this little pamphlet has resulted in hundreds of petitions being filed with the Conciliation Court each year. (d) Clergymen, doctors and other professional people, who recommend that their patient or client solicit the Conciliation Court's services. (e) Family service agencies, which advise a party desiring reconciliation to file a petition in the Concilia- tion Court, since the noncourt agency has no power to force the recalcitrant spouse into a conference. (f) Legal Aid, Bureau of Public Assistance, Dis- trict Attorney's Failure to Provide, and other such com- munity agencies. All of the above factors indicate that the couples who are counseled in the Conciliation Court are a selec- tive group and in many instances those where at least one party has an urgent desire to effect a reconciliation. Our startling statistics, therefore, are the product of this noncompulsory, partially selective, reconciliation- prone group of couples. Under a compulsory system the statistics inevitably are much lower and more discouraging. High Counselor Standards Another factor which should not be overlooked, which contributes to our high percentage of reconcilia- tions, is the fact that the standards for counselors in the Los Angeles Conciliation Court are extremely high, to wit, a master's degree in one of the behavioral sciences, and at least ten years prior counseling experience. Equally important is the personality factor involved in selecting a counselor for our court. Degrees are important but short-term counseling requires a counselor with a warm, outgoing, friendly personality who can get into immediate rapport with the client. Finally, it has been characteristic of the Los Angeles Court to adopt a trial and error method as to its procedures, and a willingness to discard unworkable practices and to develop new ones. This has been a con- tributing factor in securing the enthusiastic approval and support of the bench, bar, clergy, social agencies, Board of Supervisors, and the general public. It is highly essential and of vital importance to all of us interested in reconciliation procedures to ana- lyze and understand the basic reasons for the outstanding success of reconciliation processes in some jurisdictions and their tragic failures in others. I

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