Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Facing a staff shortage and without funds for new hiring, the Fredericksburg Circuit Court Clerk has decided to close the clerk’s office to the public two afternoons a week to catch up on paperwork.

Clerk Sharron S. Mitchell is closing the doors to her office at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During those afternoons, her staff does not answer the phone. “We will use the quiet time to get things done,” she said, pointing to a backlog of work. “People were wearing themselves out trying to do so much,” said Mitchell.

Virginia law apparently permits early closing of clerks’ offices, as long as they are open every business day. Virginia Code § 17.1-207 generally requires the clerk’s office of every court to be “kept open on every day” except Saturday and Sunday. There is no code requirement specifying the hours that a clerk’s office must be open.

The same statute provides that the judge of the court may require the clerk’s office “to be kept open continuously for the transaction of business during convenient hours” on the days it is required to be open.

There has been no order dictating “convenient hours” imposed in Fredericksburg. In fact, there has been no presiding judge in the Fredericksburg Circuit Court since the death in April of Judge John W. Scott Jr.

Mitchell says that a combination of state and local budget pressures forced the shortened hours. “I lost two experienced deputy clerks in June,” she said. One position was state-funded and the other paid from the city budget. The governor imposed a state hiring freeze in February and the Fredericksburg City Council recently discontinued funding for the other post.

The absence of a judge has not helped, she said. “That’s caused an enormous amount of pressure.”

Mitchell said most of the paperwork backlog is preparation of criminal sentencing orders from June and July. “We stopped doing criminal orders. The law does not require it,” she said.

She said her staff could not attend to other duties and prepare all the criminal orders. “We have a very heavy criminal load. They can’t do it and do everything else we have to do.”

Unusual move

Closing early two days a week is an unusual move for a Virginia court clerk’s office. Staunton Circuit Court Clerk Thomas E. Roberts, 1st vice-president of the Virginia Court Clerk’s Association, said that he had not heard of any other such closings in the state.

“It’s unusual, but the budget restrictions are real, and we all are having to struggle with them,” he said.

Previously, the Fredericksburg clerk’s office closed early on Wednesdays to deal with a temporary staff shortage.

Fredericksburg lawyer Jeannie P. Dahnk, a former president of the Virginia State Bar, is concerned about the effect on the general public. “I think the lawyers can manage. That’s what we do. But I think that it’s going to be hard on the community at large.

“I’m hoping that it’s for a limited time,” she said.

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