Los Angeles Superior Court officials informed employees Friday that 329 of them will be laid off on April 1 because of the ongoing budget crisis.

A memo from Executive Officer John Clarke said as many as 1,800 more positions will be lost to layoffs and attrition in the next four years or so.

"This is one of the saddest days for the L.A. Superior Court in its history," Clarke said in an interview. "This is an unprecedented layoff."

Layoff notices will go out on March 16. After that, the court will provide workshops to assist with unemployment insurance, working with the county's retirement plan and health benefits.

Bryan Borys, special assistant to the executive officer, said an additional 500 more positions will be cut in September, followed by another 530 a year later.

"We're just starting down this road," Borys added.

The loss of 1,800 jobs over the next few years accounts for about a third of the court's current 5,400 employees in Los Angeles County.

The gouging of positions is almost certain to result in court closures, as well as a drastic diminishment in judicial services to the public, officials said.

Torrance Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold, the supervising bench officer for the Southwest District, said as many as six courtrooms in Torrance, Redondo Beach and Inglewood could be closed in the next nine months.

"It's just so distressing," Arnold said. "The budget is so terrible."

Like Clarke, Arnold predicted that the court's civil services will be the hardest hit.

"When the dust finally settles, our court will not look as it does today. It will look much smaller," Arnold said.

"What's frightening," he added, "is that there is no end in sight."

Clarke said there is grief for the hundreds of employees who are losing their jobs.

But he also expressed concern for those members of the public who rely on the judicial system for survival, such as through child support payments and domestic violence restraining orders.

Court spokeswoman Vania Stulep said civil cases, which are generally resolved in about 18 months, can take as long as five years to reach disposition in the wake of the cuts.

In the memo, Clarke wrote that the budget situation is "more severe than anyone has seen in the past" and that there is "no relief on the horizon."

Workers with the least seniority or in yet-to-be-disclosed programs slated to be cut will be the first to go, he added.

Even with an extra $188 million from the Legislature, the nation's largest court system is still operating with a $73.9 million deficit in this fiscal year, which began in July, he said.

The one-day-a-month court closure will continue as a cost-cutting measure, probably until at least June 2012 for the Los Angeles Superior Court, Clarke said.

While judges are exempt from the furlough day imposed on all other court employees, Clarke said that 97 percent of the bench officers have voluntarily given up a day of pay each month to help.

Clarke encouraged court staff to communicate with their managers and union representatives.

In closing, he called the situation "serious, but not hopeless," and added: "We are prepared as well as any court could be for this crisis and we are committed, along with all of our judges, to manage it - and not be managed by it."