After leadership at the First Judicial District disseminated the results of a study into racial tensions and nepotism in the Philadelphia court system, calls have begun mounting for court leadership to heed the study's findings and take action.

On Thursday, the FJD's Administrative Governing Board released to its employees a 56-page report that said it had found "a culture of nepotism, mistrust and racial tensions [at the FJD] that is constantly brewing—and occasionally bubbling to the surface."

The study, conducted by the Center for Urban and Racial Equity (CURE), was based on input from 670 employees across all of the court's departments, with nearly half of the respondents working for the Common Pleas trial division and a third of respondents working at the Family Court.

Although the study said many employees reported a culture of belonging and respect, the report also detailed racial tensions in the court system and "near universal" feeling that nepotism is a problem that hinders fairness.

Among the findings, the report said women of color—including judges—feel there is less equity in the system.

The report also said there is "a troubling pattern of racial resentment among some white staff and judges." Specifically, the report said, some white staff and judges "often expressed as a disbelief that institutional and structural racism exist and belief that reverse racism is as significant as racism against people of color," and one white judge said "black coalitions seem to now rule," the report said.

The study was commissioned in July 2018, and although it was initially turned over to court  leadership in July 2019, it was not not made public until now.

However, since The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported on the results of the study, legal community leaders in Philadelphia have called on court leadership to use the findings to address the racial tensions and nepotism present in the system.

By early Friday morning, the Barristers' Association of Philadelphia and the Judicial Council of the Clifford Scott Green Chapter of the National Bar Association issued a joint statement strongly encouraging the court's Administrative Governing Board to adopt the report's recommendation that the court system review its salaries and promotions for racial equity and seniority, and to make salary ranges available to all staff.

"We commend the Administrative Governing Board for making these important findings public," Barristers' president David C. Williams, an attorney at Kline & Specter, said. "The first step is to acknowledge you have a problem. Now comes the real work: rooting out the documented, deep-seeded nepotism and racial bias that undermines the FJD as an effective organization and erodes public confidence in the effective administration of justice."

READ THE REPORT:

The statement, which also said both the Clifford Scott Green Chapter NBA Judicial Council and some members of the Philadelphia City Council had pushed court leadership to release the report, encouraged court leaders to create structures that would ensure women and minorities are considered in all aspects of hiring, retention, promotion and leadership development.

"Years of disparate treatment in hiring have led to a less than desirable work environment in the FJD for some staff and judges alike. Dangerous levels of complacency and a lack of accountability in some instances are the direct result of inept hiring practices that unfortunately remain a problem today," Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sierra Thomas Street, who is chair of the Clifford Scott Green Chapter NBA's Judicial Council, said in the statement. "This status quo is unacceptable for an institution that is charged with serving the general public in a fair and equitable manner. Ignoring the problem is not an option. We must see tangible change and results."

In a separate statement Friday afternoon, Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Michael Snyder also said court leaders needed to address the issues revealed in the report.

"The Philadelphia Bar Association believes racial injustice must be uncovered anywhere it exists in the legal system and these injustices should be addressed immediately," Snyder said in the statement.

For its part, the court has said it is currently organizing equity and inclusion training across the FJD, and will use CURE's assessment to continue to identify ways the system can become more equitable.

FJD Administrative Judge Jacqueline Allen, who is a member of the Administrative Governing Board, also said the group is set to meet in the coming weeks to further map out a plan to make changes based on CURE's assessment.

Several court employees who spoke with The Legal said the findings in the report were not surprising, and Allen, who is the only woman of color on the Administrative Governing Board, also said she was not surprised by the report's findings.

"No, the findings weren't a surprise to me," Allen said in emailed responses to questions. "It captured the challenges we face, not only in our courts but all over America, in moving beyond the conversation to a point of action. The report does provide a road map for that journey."

Her main reaction to the finding, she said, was to ask the question, "Where do we go from here?"

"The report sets an expectation that the courts should be striving in a much more robust fashion to reflect the makeup and shared values of the community served," she said.

In recent years, some racially charged incidents at the courts and involving court members have come to light.

Last month, a writ service supervisor at the Family Court division was caught on a viral video making racist statements as he tore down signs put up in a South Philadelphia park that were supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. The employee was fired soon after.

In another high-profile incident, Municipal Court Judge Karen Simmons received a racist, sexist and threatening letter while an election was taking place to select the Municipal Court president judge. The message, found in an envelope for intra-office mail in her robing room at the Criminal Justice Center, said "THERE WILL NEVER BE A BLACK BITCH RUNNING OUR COURT. YOU WON'T BE PRESIDENT JUDGE!!!" It ended with "KEEP MC COURT GREAT!" An investigation was launched, but neither the Philadelphia Police Department nor the Sheriff's Office responded to a request regarding the status of that investigation.

That letter was found in December, several months after the Administrative Governing Board commissioned the recently released study.

According to Allen, there was no particular incident that led the board to commission the report, but, rather the study arose out of a desire to assess the inner workings of the court system's culture.

"The board had a concern that our courts should be more reflective of the community served and more importantly how the court [judges and support personnel] interfaced with one another and the public," she said.

Allen did not respond to a question asking why the report was not disclosed for a year, but, when asked why the board decided to make the report public she said, "It was time."