I'm still trying to get a handle on that myself, because I started on November 2. I would anticipate that I might be spending at least 40% of my time hearing cases, but at this time I'm spending a lot of time doing case management and of course learning all the budgeting, the management, and that sort of thing. I do have small-business experience in running my own firm for 22 years. I can tell you that it has been quite a challenging and intense experience, but I'm very involved in case management at this time.
We also do mediations. For example, the commission refers, on average, 80 cases a year to us. About 30 of those may be settled on their own. We also conduct a number of mediations; we offer in-house mediation. I'm going to a mediation tomorrow. About 30 cases out of that total may be mediated, and a mediation is obviously the best thing for the parties. Then the balance of the cases will be scheduled for a hearing.
We have a number of part-time members across the country. Right now, of course, we have an opening for the vice-chair and the full-time member. That's posted right now. There are certainly issues in trying to ensure the due administration of the office, but I'm hoping I will be able to do a number of hearings.