|
Patricia W. Griffin became State Court Administrator in February 2005. Prior to taking this position, she had been the Chief Magistrate of the Justice of the Peace Court from 1993. In that position, she was responsible for a number of important initiatives. Perhaps chief among these was the establishment of the Court’s highly successful Truancy Court, which has received several national awards including the 2003 Program of the Year and the 2004 Crystal Star Award from the National Center for Truancy and Dropout Prevention. As Chief Magistrate, she also focused on enhancing the professionalism of the Justice of the Peace Court system by creating a formal legal education program for new justices of the peace, as well as re-drafting court rules to bring them more closely into line with those of the other courts. In addition, she led the way in developing projects to make more efficient use of resources, such as the Videophone Court which saves time and money for the law enforcement community by providing them with more rapid access to a judge and the Justice of the Peace Court 20 project, which is a pilot project designed to reduce the caseload of the over-burdened Court of Common Pleas by extending the services of a deputy attorney general and public defender in a “test” Justice of the Peace Court. On a national level, Patricia Griffin worked closely with the National Consortium for State Court Interpreters, serving on the executive committee and as vice chair and chair. With her leadership, the Consortium was named as a finalist for Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Innovations in Government Award in 2003. She is also the author of a law review article on court interpreters that was published in the Delaware Law Review in 2002.
Prior to serving as Chief Magistrate, she was in the private practice of law in Sussex County. She has also worked for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and as Assistant Dean at the University of North Carolina School of Law and the Washington & Lee School of Law. She graduated, cum laude, from Duke University with a B.A. degree and a J.D. degree from the Washington and Lee School of Law. |
