The steps include closer monitoring of which judges receive which cases, and a complete review of the process by which divorce cases are handled, said Ann T. Pfau, administrative judge for state Supreme Court in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

"Our overriding concern here is making sure the public comes through our door and has absolute faith in the quality of judges we have here," she said in a telephone interview.

She described the new measures one day after state Supreme Court Justice Gerald P. Garson of Brooklyn and five other men were arraigned on corruption charges. Their lawyers said they were innocent.

Prosecutors said they used a video camera in Garson's chambers to record him accepting the gifts, including a box of cigars, to fix divorce cases. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Court officials said they were trying to determine how many cases may have been tainted and were reviewing Garson's records.

The reform steps outlined by Pfau apply to the roughly 90 judges of the Second Judicial Circuit of state Supreme Court.

She said they had been in the works for "quite some time" but were on hold until the Garson investigation became public. The steps include:

--Daily reports reviewed by Pfau on civil cases for which the random procedure of assigning cases to judges is overridden. Overrides are common -- judges routinely remove themselves from cases for possible conflicts of interest.

--A "comprehensive risk assessment" of how the court handles matrimonial cases to make sure "everything's as effective and well-managed as it should be." The review will be conducted partly by the state inspector general's office.

--Moving the court's matrimonial office, now at 360 Adams St. in Brooklyn, to 15 Willoughby St., just down from the court's main office.

--Maintaining a hot line, 866-302-7001, for people who have questions or concerns about how their cases have been handled. Pfau said dozens of people whose divorce cases were handled by Garson have already called the line.