Rule 16-105 - Circuit Court-County Administrative Judge(a) Designation. After considering the recommendation of the Circuit Administrative Judge, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall designate a County Administrative Judge for each circuit court, to serve in that capacity at the pleasure of the Chief Justice. Except as permitted by Rule 16-104(b)(1), the County Administrative Judge shall be a judge of that circuit court.(b) Duties. Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, other applicable law, the general supervision of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the general supervision of the Circuit Administrative Judge, the County Administrative Judge is responsible for the administration of the circuit court, including: (1) supervision of the judges, officials, and employees of the court;(2) assignment of judges within the court pursuant to Rule 16-302 (Assignment of Actions for Trial; Case Management Plan);(3) supervision and expeditious disposition of cases filed in the court, control over the trial and other calendars of the court, assignment of cases for trial and hearing pursuant to Rule 16-302 (Assignment of Actions for Trial; Case Management Plan) and Rule 16-304 (Chambers Judge), and scheduling of court sessions;(4) preparation of the court's budget;(5) preparation of a case management plan for the court pursuant to Rule 16-302;(6) preparation of a continuity of operations plan for the court pursuant to Rule 16-803;(7) preparation of a jury plan for the court pursuant to Code, Courts Article, Title 8, Subtitle 2 and implementation of that plan; Cross reference: See Rule 16-402(e).
(8) preparation of any plan to create a problem-solving court program for the court pursuant to Rule 16-207;(9) ordering the purchase of all equipment and supplies for (A) the court, and (B) the ancillary services and officials of the court, including magistrates, auditors, examiners, court administrators, court reporters, jury commissioner, staff of the medical offices, and all other court personnel except personnel comprising the Clerk of Court's office;(10) except as otherwise provided in section (c) of this Rule, supervision of and responsibility for the employment, discharge, and classification of court personnel and personnel of its ancillary services and the maintenance of personnel files, unless a majority of the judges of the court disapproves of a specific action; Cross reference: See Rule 16-806 (Judicial Personnel Policies and Procedures).
Committee note: Article IV, § 9, of the Maryland Constitution gives the judges of any court the power to appoint officers and, thus, requires joint exercise of the personnel power.
(11) implementation and enforcement of all administrative policies, rules, orders, and directives of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the State Court Administrator, and the Circuit Administrative Judge of the judicial circuit; and(12) performance of any other administrative duties necessary to the effective administration of the internal management of the court and the prompt disposition of litigation in it.Cross reference: See St. Joseph Medical Center v. Turnbull, 432 Md. 259 (2013) for authority of the county administrative judge to assign and reassign cases but not to countermand judicial decisions made by a judge to whom a case has been assigned.
(c) Circuit Judge's Personal Secretary and Law Clerk. Subsection (b)(10) of this Rule does not apply to a personal secretary or law clerk of a circuit court judge. Each judge has the exclusive right, subject to budget limitations, any applicable administrative order, and any applicable personnel policies and procedures, to employ and discharge the judge's personal secretary and law clerk.(d) Delegation of Authority.(1) A County Administrative Judge may delegate one or more of the administrative duties and functions imposed by this Rule to (A) another judge or a committee of judges of the court, including by designation of another judge of the court to serve as acting County Administrative Judge during a temporary absence of the County Administrative Judge, or (B) one or more other officials or employees of the court.(2) Except as provided in subsection (d)(3) of this Rule, in the implementation of Code, Criminal Procedure Article, § 6-103 and Rule 4-271(a), a County Administrative Judge may (A) with the approval of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, authorize one or more judges to postpone criminal cases on appeal from the District Court or transferred from the District Court because of a demand for jury trial, and (B) authorize not more than one judge at a time to postpone all other criminal cases.(3) The administrative judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City may authorize one judge sitting in the Clarence M. Mitchell courthouse to postpone criminal cases set for trial in that courthouse and one judge sitting in Courthouse East to postpone criminal cases set for trial in that courthouse. This Rule is derived from former Rule 16-101 d (2016).
Adopted June 6, 2016, eff. 7/1/2016. Amended Dec. 13, 2016, eff. 4/1/2017; amended April 21, 2023, eff. 4/1/2023.HISTORICAL NOTES
2016 Orders
The December 13, 2016, order, added a cross reference following subsection (b)(10) and replaced the word "plan with the phrase "policies and procedures in section (c).