The largest overhaul of the state’s court system in nearly two decades will take effect July 1 when 10 circuit courts open across the state.

The new courts will put district, probate and family under one administrative roof, cutting the number of mid-level managers by more than half. It’s expected to save $1.4 million in the first year and $37 million over 10 years.

Hillsborough County’s five courts will form the 9th Circuit Court and will be clerked by Lynn Killkelley.

The district, family and probate courts spend more than $75 million a year to handle more than 95 percent of the cases filed in the state. Under the current format, each of those courts is a separate entity with separate judges and clerks.

The circuit court will transform those 66 courts in three divisions under one umbrella court with one manager. Judges would be cross-trained to sit on all three types of cases.

The state Legislature adopted a unified court system in 1984, putting all of the state courts under the judicial branch’s jurisdiction. The formation of the circuit court is the largest structural change to the branch since then.

“This is huge,” said David King, the new court’s deputy administrative judge. “Since that date, nothing much has changed. This is a big change. It’s almost unheard of.”

Most court users won’t notice any particular changes, aside from the name changes, King said.

“It’s the collapsing of the management, but we’re putting other efficiencies in the system to make up for that,” he said.

One of those efficiencies is a call center, expected to open in January , that will handle about 70 percent of the 50,000 calls that courts receive each month, freeing courthouse employees to deal with cases and customers.

The circuit court will also hire 20 part-time employees to process cases off hours.

“When the clerks come back in the morning, the piles are gone, and they can focus on customer service,” King said. “We’re trying to think of the courts as more of a business in terms of how we operate.”

The Supreme Court named Edwin Kelly to serve as administrative judge of the circuit court, which will now handle 90 percent of all cases filed in the state court system. Kelly served for 20 years as administrative judge of the district court and seven years in that same capacity for the family division.

Creating a circuit court system was one of many fundamental changes suggested by the Judicial Branch Innovation Commission in January.

The committee recommended implementing most of the changes, including spending $5 million to develop an e-file system, and cutting many management positions as the circuit court is formed, over 10 years.

Instead, when court officials petitioned the Legislature for authorization to consolidate the courts, legislators directed them to form the circuit court – and cut the management staff – by July 1, King said.

So, instead of cutting 118 managers down to 51 through attrition over 10 years, managers had to apply for the 51 positions open in the new system.

“A lot of people lost their jobs and a big chunk decided to retire,” King said.

The court system lost 35 people to retirements and layoffs, and another 32 people were demoted to non-management positions.

In the preface of the commission’s report, the Supreme Court justices cautioned against slashing the court’s staffing levels.

“An abrupt reduction in Judicial Branch resources would undermine the very work of the commission, which recognizes that it takes time and effort to implement large institutional change, especially in an institution as deeply embedded in practices and procedures as the court system,” the justices wrote.

Judges are expected to continue hearing the same types of cases they hear now, but can be cross-trained to hear other types of cases.

That’s particularly important in smaller courts, where perhaps only a probate judge hears cases on certain days. If police bring in a suspect, a district court judge has to be called in to the hear the arraignment. A cross-trained probate judge would be able to hear that case more quickly and cheaply, King said.

“Our aim is that the transition be as seamless as possible, so that litigants and members of the bar sense little or no disruption in their interactions with the circuit court,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Linda Dalianis said. “Over time, we expect that this reorganization will result in increased efficiencies and improved access to justice for the citizens of New Hampshire.”

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick said the state’s budget crunch was what prompted him and the rest of the court to begin looking at reform.

The judicial branch has made a number of drastic cuts to its budget at Gov. John Lynch’s insistence. At the superior court level, trials have been reduced by a third, which has raised the concerns about speedy trial violations and made it difficult for civil cases to move forward.

All court employees and judges have agreed to take 14 unpaid furlough days, each of which closes courts statewide, per-diem judge time has been cut 20 percent and a high rate of staff vacancies are being maintained to save money, according to the report.

Staff shortages and massive case processing backlogs have necessitated some courts, including Hillsborough County’s two superior courts, to limit the hours the clerk’s offices are open to the public.

The shortages have also delayed the opening of new cases, appointing public defenders to defendants, scheduling hearings and mailing out orders once a judge has made a ruling, according to the report.

The court system’s reduced security budget could require further cuts to the number of trial and hearings held in order to neither exceed the budget or sacrifice security, according to the report.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.