A pragmatic, no-nonsense Philadelphia born and bred Attorney, Alex Bonavitacola had already heard every excuse ever invented and may have added some himself. "I knew what had been tried," he says. From the day of his appointment on July 1, 1992, he knew that somewhere, someone, some court system had gone through and solved the quagmire that was enveloping our courts.

"I scouted around the country and discovered that a program had been implemented in Wayne County, that had successfully cut that county court's backlog. We modified it a great deal and introduced it here," said a satisfied Bonavitacola. 

The program's name, "Day Backward and Day Forward," will forever be part of our local court's ideology. Bonavitacola explains, "Every case filed before the day we started the program fell under the label of 'Day Backward,' every case filed from that day on became known as 'Day Forward'." 

His first target were the cases in Day Backward category. "I called on the Bar Association to help us with the project. They did so without hesitation, giving us many highly qualified volunteer masters who sat at settlements, as we started on the day backward. They also helped us by recruiting volunteer settlement masters who settled many civil cases for the courts."

Seeing a rapid dissolution of the backlog in that area, he began to marshal his sitting judges to rally by his efforts to adopt schedules that would successfully whittle down the "Day Forward" cases.
"Sometimes it took cajoling," he reminisces smiling, "at other times adding some pressure, and in the end rallying them into a cohesive, committed group. In the end everyone came through." 

The judges not only adhered to rigid schedules, but also demanded the same of the attorneys who tried to get out from under the toughened schedules. The backlog was cleaned up by 1995, with that effort earning him the prestigious Justice William J. Brennan Award conferred by the Philadelphia Bar Association. In December of that year his colleagues elected him unanimously as President Judge for a five-year term ending this month.

The appreciation of his leadership and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow judges was very much in evidence last week at a surprise reception thrown in his honor and presided over by newly elected President Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson. 

The reception was held in the newly renovated Law Library, located on City Hall's 6th Floor. During the ceremony he was led to the entrance, where he was shown a plaque that dedicates the Library's restoration to its former glory to his efforts. 

Judge Bonavitacola is giving finality to his decision to retire after 25 years on the bench. There will be no "senior judge" or any other similar capacity for him. "I hope to remain an influence in positive change," he says. One of his possibly unfinished pieces of business is the contracting out of court appointed legal services. "Its time has come," he says, dismissing some members of the bar who say he is auctioning off the legal rights of poor people.

"It works well in tough cities like New York and Washington, DC," he notes, "where there are many poor people caught up in the need for proper representation in the criminal justice systems." He knows, from his own research and investigation as well as others, that the system works well for both defendants and the courts." Adoption would end the present system where lawyers, who indicate their desire to be considered for, court appointments to represent indigenous defendants to one or more judges who place them on rotational schedules.

Judge Bonavitacola says, "I feel that I have had a wonderful 25 years. I hope I've made a contribution." We know he has.

A native of South Philadelphia, as his wife of 38 years, Flora, the judge feels he inherited his common sense approach to many of the decisions he made in those years to a rich Italian heritage. He has two children. Son, Marc, is the City Pension Board's, chief investment officer. Daughter, Portia, is an attorney for the US Dept. of Defense. There may yet be another Bonavitacola on the local bench.

We hope so.