Dear NACM Members, It was great to see those who attended the Annual Conference in person in San Diego. This fantastic conference provided a relevant educational curriculum and resources, which were even made accessible to those who could only attend… Read more »
Charlene Watkins Dear Reader, I find myself wearing my mask more often when I’m out, given the new COVID-19 variant on the rise. Managing current changes within our workplace requires understanding that the shift toward “normal” may be temporary, delayed,… Read more »
Amanda Marshall Title, Court: Public Outreach/Law Library Director, Superior Court of Cobb County Number of judges at court: 10 superior court judges NACM member since 2006 You served as the Chair of the NACM Media Guide Committee. What did that… Read more »
Courts, Testing, and Vaccinations What Will Your Court Decide? A Video Conversation on Courts and Ethics The coronavirus has hamstrung our nation’s courts since March 2020. 2021 offers hope that we may soon return to our normal lives, but it… Read more »
It didn’t take long to figure out that a lot of the organizing and engagement that resulted in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol had its roots online through social media platforms—some niche, others very mainstream. The horrifying… Read more »
Having previously considered the difficulties most courts have in achieving and sustaining high performance and the ways to realistically approach performance improvements, we now focus on building human capital. Developing the individual and collective competencies of those who work in… Read more »
In ancient Rome, public wrestling and sport contests were held in places called palestras, where the phrase “Strip or Retire” (compete or quit), was etched into the stone overhead. Athletes competed in the nude because the Romans believed that if… Read more »
COVID-19 and Court Reponses The novel coronavirus created many changes in court operations. A variety of sources have observed operational responses taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A sampling of the changes is noted below. The Hague Institute for Innovation… Read more »
How fair is your court? Take a moment to think about it before you read on. My guess is that most court professionals would be inclined to answer, “Pretty fair!” After all, you know the hard work and good intentions… Read more »
Courts must get ready for a riskier world today. We and, therefore, they face unprecedented threats to our safety, security, and welfare, including natural disasters, pandemics, terrorist attacks, biological and chemical attacks, and cyberattacks by increasingly sophisticated adversaries using not… Read more »
The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. In judicial administration, we recognize the significant growth in our knowledge of what constitutes high performance and the operational improvements that technology has made possible. Nevertheless, courts still… Read more »
The field of court administration has learned much about the policies, practices, and technologies that characterize high performance. Nevertheless, courts continue to struggle with improvement, and we have speculated that the difficulty may lie in not knowing how to go… Read more »
Paving the Cowpath Last week I started my first class of the Institute for Court Management’s Court Management Program II course. Our instructor gave us some sage advice: “Don’t pave the cowpath.” I had heard the phrase, “You can’t put… Read more »
Thirteen years ago, The Court Business Process Enhancement Guide was published. On page v of the foreword it reads: The business processes employed in clerks’ offices, court administration offices, courtrooms, and judges’ chambers were first developed to accomplish specific tasks… Read more »
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Evolution of Court Collections Across the nation, attitudes and practices regarding court collection programs are changing. The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has updated CourTools Measure 7 (Legal Financial Obligations) to include surveys with litigants, judges, and court staff… Read more »
In the summer of 2017, the National Association for Court Management (NACM) was kind enough to publish our initial article, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Coming to a Court Near You.”1 It was our hope to prompt some spirited discussion on possible… Read more »
Living in a digital world means that traditionally legacy-based institutions like banks and courts are finally evolving their operations to keep pace with innovative tech advances across our daily lives. For example, the use of apps like Venmo and technologies… Read more »
Find Your Voice When I first started as a court administrator, I had zero experience with the judicial or legal systems. There was a point where I received a traffic ticket, but I paid it right away and never needed… Read more »
Welcome to this edition of the Court Manager. The NACM Board and all of our volunteer committee members are engaged and doing a marvelous job on behalf of the association. I am amazed by their dedication and commitment. Please visit… Read more »
© 2024 NACM – Court Manager; printed in the United States. Court Manager is published quarterly by the National Association for Court Management. Opinions expressed and procedures explained in the articles are not necessarily those of NACM or of the National Center for State Courts. Publication of advertising in the Court Manager does not imply NACM or NCSC endorsement or approval of the product or service. The association encourages submission of material that will interest or benefi t its members. Address correspondence to either the editor or the managing editor; inquiries about advertising should be directed to the managing editor. All rights are reserved to reject, condense, or edit any article or advertisement submitted for publication.