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Post by JudgeRatty on Jun 30, 2014 19:00:42 GMT -5
Thanks for all the great info. A lot to think about. Hopefully I have to think about it one day. Now, I'm interested in how you guys schedule. In my office most have hearings 3 days a week. Every week. One, the one that works from home one day a week, does all his over 2 days a week. Every week. The mornings and afternoon switchoff is intriguing. And the sched where you do 2 full weeks of hearings then none for 2. Or every other week.... How did you decide? Why? This totally depends on the size of the office too. Some offices that are large have to consider several remote sites and making sure all of that is on a rotational basis as well. There are SO many factors considered when scheduling. Offices schedule in different ways but the bottom line is rotation rotation rotation. No one ALJ is doing dockets for any one city etc. It has to be spread out evenly. Some offices schedule hearings for ALJs two weeks a month M-F or M-Th, some 3 days a week, it just depends on how many hearing rooms and remote sites there are....very office specific.
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Post by cougarfan on Jun 30, 2014 21:34:05 GMT -5
Thanks for all the great info. A lot to think about. Hopefully I have to think about it one day. Now, I'm interested in how you guys schedule. In my office most have hearings 3 days a week. Every week. One, the one that works from home one day a week, does all his over 2 days a week. Every week. The mornings and afternoon switchoff is intriguing. And the sched where you do 2 full weeks of hearings then none for 2. Or every other week.... How did you decide? Why? This totally depends on the size of the office too. Some offices that are large have to consider several remote sites and making sure all of that is on a rotational basis as well. There are SO many factors considered when scheduling. Offices schedule in different ways but the bottom line is rotation rotation rotation. No one ALJ is doing dockets for any one city etc. It has to be spread out evenly. Some offices schedule hearings for ALJs two weeks a month M-F or M-Th, some 3 days a week, it just depends on how many hearing rooms and remote sites there are....very office specific. I agree with Sratty; location, location, location. As for my experience, in my first office I tried alternating 3 hearing days one week and 2 the next (6 per day), 2 hearing days per week with 7 hearings per day, and finally rested on my favorite schedule (works best for me) of 25 hearings a week every other week. For my style I feel better prepared and I am able to take off every other Friday with credit hours. Just my experience. I'd be happy to answer any questions about why I like it if you want more info. Good luck everybody.
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Post by moopigsdad on Jul 1, 2014 5:26:06 GMT -5
This totally depends on the size of the office too. Some offices that are large have to consider several remote sites and making sure all of that is on a rotational basis as well. There are SO many factors considered when scheduling. Offices schedule in different ways but the bottom line is rotation rotation rotation. No one ALJ is doing dockets for any one city etc. It has to be spread out evenly. Some offices schedule hearings for ALJs two weeks a month M-F or M-Th, some 3 days a week, it just depends on how many hearing rooms and remote sites there are....very office specific. I agree with Sratty; location, location, location. As for my experience, in my first office I tried alternating 3 hearing days one week and 2 the next (6 per day), 2 hearing days per week with 7 hearings per day, and finally rested on my favorite schedule (works best for me) of 25 hearings a week every other week. For my style I feel better prepared and I am able to take off every other Friday with credit hours. Just my experience. I'd be happy to answer any questions about why I like it if you want more info. Good luck everybody. Please inform us more cougarfan why you like your present schedule the best and how are the 25 hearings every other week scheduled? Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 8:35:57 GMT -5
Our office schedules 6 hearings a day, for 5 consecutive days, i.e. thirty hearings in a week. The following week is used signing cases and preparing for the next week of hearings. So, it is almost like one week 'on' and one week 'off' in terms of hearings. The week that you are not holding hearings is the time to work from home or take a day of leave. But, during that 'off' week, you also have to review thirty cases for next week and review and sign twenty plus cases, and deal with cases in post-hearing status. Can be a lot. You really have to learn to stick and move. This is high volume practice.
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Post by cougarfan on Jul 1, 2014 10:28:50 GMT -5
I agree with Sratty; location, location, location. As for my experience, in my first office I tried alternating 3 hearing days one week and 2 the next (6 per day), 2 hearing days per week with 7 hearings per day, and finally rested on my favorite schedule (works best for me) of 25 hearings a week every other week. For my style I feel better prepared and I am able to take off every other Friday with credit hours. Just my experience. I'd be happy to answer any questions about why I like it if you want more info. Good luck everybody. Please inform us more cougarfan why you like your present schedule the best and how are the 25 hearings every other week scheduled? Thanks! 1. I schedule, usually, 5 hearings a day for 5 days. I schedule them beginning at 8:30 a.m. and the last scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. (45 min intervals). For about 3 months I scheduled 6 hearings a day and I didn't mind the hearing schedule, but it was more than I wanted to do during my preperation week because it started eating into my ability to take that Friday off, or at least the whole day. 2. I like the schedule for a several reasons. 1) I like holding hearings; I prefer the flow of 5 consecutive days of hearings as opposed to having a day or two between hearings. 2) When I was holding heaings every other day, or even twice week, I usually found myself preparing for the hearing the day before. Now I am doing a thorough review at least one week before the hearing. While that doesn't give me time to order a CE it does give me a chance to have the rep contacted if it is apparant that medical records, wage records, or employment history (for example) are missing. Consequently I feel like I am better prepared for the hearing and I actually think the reps have done better because they know I look at the file early and they know I'm going to have questions. 3) Much like getting into a flow of holding hearing every day, although I prefer hearings to prep work, I work better when my prep work is in a flow as well; so my prep work is more consistent and more efficient than it had been. 4) I use the afternoon during hearing week to write my instructions, review/edit/sign decisions, and to work on ALPO files. That system just work well for me. 5) Finally, I know that I have a consistent every other week pattern of hearings; so it makes it very easy to put in 9-hour days and then to take the non-hearing week Friday off. I am sure I could have made similar arrangements with a different schedule, but when I was holding 2-3 days of hearing each week it depended largely on hearingroom availablity whether I would be in hearings on Fridays. Also, understand that new ALJs are going to be limited in the numbers of hearings you can hold for the first 6 months or so. And, while the schedule I described works really well for me, I know other judges, whom I respect, who tell me that my schedule would never work for them either because they need to have hearings every week or they can't hold hearings in 45 minute increments. My advice is to try out different schedules (when you have the ability/flexibility to do it) and decide what works best for you.
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