By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

It has been a fast-paced 13 months for 8th Judicial District Administrative Judge Paula Feroleto.

As if taking over as the district's top judge wasn't a leap on its own, 2010 brought an unusually active legislative year to the courts. For Feroleto and her district staff (which numbers between 910 and 950), it has been a matter of learning on the fly and playing some catch-up.

"There have been a lot of changes in the criminal laws," she said recently in her new office, which is down the hall from the ceremonial courtroom in Erie County Hall.

She highlighted some major legislative changes influencing the courts:

• Reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Originally created in the 1970s to impose stiff mandatory prison sentences on people selling relatively small quantities of drugs, the law was revised in 2009 to eliminate minimum sentencing and allow those convicted to retroactively seek a resentencing and possible release from prison. The additional case filings can cause a backlog for what, in many cases, is an overburdened court system.

"That was a matter of a lot of re-education of our people in the courts," Feroleto said. "In the 8th district, we were a little bit ahead of the curve because we already have the drug courts, so we had less resentencing to do compared to other jurisdictions in the state."

• The ignition interlock legislation. New legislation cracking down on drunk drivers requires those who are convicted or who plead guilty to have an ignition interlock device installed on their automobile. "That legislation added a lot of new requirements on the DWI cases," she said. "There were also the increased penalties if you are driving (drunk) with a youngster in the car (Leadra's Law, enacted Dec. 18, 2009)."

• Foreclosure legislation. Measures taken to protect homeowners facing possible foreclosure on their property and ensure due process before people lost a home. "It was a huge change this year and really added a lot of time to the court system in terms of processing," she said. "It was good, though, in the sense that we have helped some homeowners keep their homes and brought to light a lot of problems within the mortgage industry."

Feroleto said getting the mortgage process up and running in the eight counties presented a challenge in terms of training staff and then catching up with the case-load that needed to be handled.

• Matrimonial legislation. Often referred to as the "no-fault" divorce changes, the rules were adjusted in 2010 and it was another legislative lesson for the court system. "Again," she said, "there was a lot of new training for our matrimonial judges and an understanding of the new grounds for divorce."

Add it all up, and Feroleto says it was a tremendous adjustment for the system. She hopes 2011 will bring a lighter load on the reform, giving her staff time to catch up and adjust to doing more with less.

"It's hard for me to gauge (if 2010 was an unusually heavy legislative year) since I've only been in charge for about a year," she said. "But to me, it seems like a lot. Our judges did a really great job handling all of the extra work."

For all of the legislation that was passed recently, Feroleto said one piece continues to languish in Albany. And its lack of passage is causing a ripple throughout the New York court system.

"There has been a bill in the Legislature for more than three years in terms of getting additional family court judges," she said. "I know our district would benefit by getting three new judges."

In the meantime, she takes on the role of the juggler, rotating judges, re-allocating resources and managing to keep the massive caseload in the family court system running as smoothly as possible.

"We have a (family court) judge in Chautauqua County who I think is the business family court judge in the state," she said. "She has over 8,000 filings in her court."

With the flood of legislation making its way to the governor's desk in recent years, this is one Feroleto hopes gets its due attention.

"You are trying to do the best job you can for these families," she said. "But in the end, too many of these cases end up getting rushed through and fast-tracked."