Luzerne County Government

April 28, 2010

County expands lawyer pool for arbitrations

Officials noticed some attorneys regularly served, even though hundreds of others were on call list.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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New faces will appear on Luzerne County arbitration panels because Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski is expanding the pool of lawyers and is revamping the scheduling system to ensure everybody gets a shot at the work.

Arbitrators are scheduled by the prothonotary’s office. The attorneys sit on panels of three to hear civil court challenges involving claims of $50,000 or less. Each attorney is paid $125 per case, though they may petition the court for additional payment if the case is unusually long or complex.

Prothonotary Deputy Bob Sypniewski said he and Medico Olenginski noticed that some lawyers have regularly served on arbitration panels, even though hundreds of other lawyers were on the list to be called.

“There are some attorneys who indicated … they were on the list but not being contacted,” Sypniewski said. “Some were discouraged because only the same people were getting called to serve.”

The list of attorneys also needed to be updated because it was prepared in 2001, Medico Olenginski said.

She assigned Sypniewski and administrative assistant Al Pellegrini to take charge of arbitration assignments, and they have been scheduling alphabetically through the list.

Lawyers receive letters informing them of a date they will be scheduled to work and they must contact the office to confirm receipt of the letter and indicate whether they will accept the assignment.

The office also has begun calling attorneys the day before a scheduled panel date to verify that they will appear. That gives the office time to contact someone else if a scheduled lawyer must defer, Sypniewski said.

Medico Olenginski said she wants to reduce the need to turn to county-employed attorneys to fill in, though that still will be necessary in emergencies. She said she’s talked to several lawyers who embraced the opportunity to get on the list.

“Lawyers employed by the county were kind enough to help us all these years, but with the public scrutiny and people questioning double-dipping, I just feel we’re going to make extra efforts to go outside to people who are not employed by the county,” she said.

Lawyers interested in serving as arbitrators must complete a form available in court administration or the prothonotary’s office, she said. The county court system must approve the addition of new lawyers to the arbitrator pool. There is no deadline to apply, and Medico Olenginski said the pool will be regularly updated to include additions.

Attorneys also may indicate whether they’d be interested in being on a short list of lawyers who are willing to serve on short notice when someone cancels at the last minute.

The scheduling of arbitration panels has doubled because Medico Olenginski discovered a backlog when she took office in January.

Arbitrations are supposed to be held 40 to 60 days after a request for the appointment of arbitrators is filed in the prothonotary’s office, she said.

“We hit over 90 days, and this caused some concern,” she said.

Medico Olenginski said she has been working with court administration and the commissioners’ office to hold arbitration hearings in multiple rooms throughout the courthouse, including the commissioners’ meeting room.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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