This year’s theme is “Leadership Opportunities and Challenges for Our Nation’s Courts: Leading Leaders into the New Tomorrow.” Each of you attending this conference, either in person or virtually…
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I’m a Court Leader—Now WHAT? (aka “I’m a Court Leader—How Can I be Successful?”)
All of us are leaders, regardless of our job title: we lead work units, we lead projects, and we lead ourselves. This article discusses practices a court leader can take, regardless of the amount of experience, particular job title, or specific court. These choices will position court leaders for success and career enjoyment.
From Climbing to Coaching: The Journey to Peak Employee Engagement
In May of 2021, I joined my husband and son on a rock-climbing trip. While the focus of the trip was having fun as a family, the trip quickly turned into a real-life training in leadership and coaching employees.
A Beacon of Hope: Transforming Municipal Courts with Comprehensive Services
In an era where justice and rehabilitation hold increasing importance, municipal courts shine as a beacon of hope and progress. Local courts go beyond traditional justice by addressing the root causes of criminal behavior, facilitating individuals’ rebuilding of their lives,… Read more »
Courting AI: Understanding AI in Courts
Courting AI: Navigating Artificial Intelligence in Courts is the National Association for Court Management’s (NACM) 22nd guide. Courting AI is available for download from the NACM Store. The guide is free for NACM members and $10 for nonmembers. In addition… Read more »
Assistive Listening Systems in Courtrooms: What Court Managers Need to Know
Ensuring all participants and observers can hear clearly during court proceedings is essential to fair and efficient trials. If jurors, litigators, defendants, judges, transcriptionists, and others in a courtroom cannot hear and understand what is being said, the due process… Read more »
We’re in This Together: Improving Outcomes for Justice-Involved People with Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders
Today, Deena Davis is a certified peer support specialist who works in the same treatment court that saved her life and reunited her family. Deena grew up in small-town Georgia, where she was an honor-roll student and captain of the… Read more »
What’s the Ideal Manager-Employee Relationship?
You may have seen me featured as “The Candid Boss” for The Muse, an online career resource destination. One of the questions I am often asked is, can managers and employees be friends at work?
An even more essential question to ask is, what does an ideal manager-employee relationship look like?
NACM Holds 2024 Annual Conference
The NACM Annual Conference was held in New Orleans in July, with 674 people attending and 49 participating virtually. The theme was Leadership Opportunities and Challenges for Our Nation’s Courts: Leading Leaders into the New Tomorrow. Scholarship Recipients Share Their… Read more »
2023 NACM State of the Profession
One of the highlights of the 2023 Annual NACM Conference in Tampa, Florida was the State of the Profession speech, delivered by NACM President Jeffrey Tsunekawa. NACM Board member and vice chair of the Governance Committee Nicole Garcia summarized President Tsunekawa’s approach…
2023 CourtFutures Top Trends to Watch: By NACM Respondents
We have summarized the best thinking of over 1,700 court professionals, with various subsets having reviewed 241 different possible scenarios of the future.1 This report highlights recent assessments, focuses on responses from NACM members, and compares their assessments with those of the overall group…
Increasing Court Appearance: Winning Strategies from Around the Country
Imagine you are a single parent with an upcoming court date. You live far from the courthouse, with no car and no money for either a rideshare or a babysitter, and you have been asking friends to drive you and… Read more »
The NACM DEI Guide
In 2020 a lot of national news focused on issues of racial bias, violence against people of color, and civil unrest. I want to remember some of the victims of 2020 in the hopes that you too will never forget them…
Thoughts from Early Career and Seasoned Professionals
In the court system, what do early career professionals and more seasoned supervisors have in common? At the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court (PCCJC), the answer is easy. Both groups view judicial administration as a career and not simply as… Read more »
Measuring the Impacts of Strategies to Reduce Court Caseloads and Backlogs
Backlogs in court case processing are not new and have been a focus of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) since its founding. Justice Delayed: The Pace of Litigation in Urban Trial Courts was published in 1978 on this… Read more »
Internal Controls Are for Everybody!—Part Two: Financial Controls
When internal controls are considered, we often automatically think of financial management. Considering that, let us walk through the five main internal control components using Financial Controls as an example…
Tips of the Trade: Grants Management
This article will tackle the more practical tips of the trade: organizational habits and tricks to get organized and communicate clearly within and outside of your organization on grant-funded projects…
What Court Professionals Need to Know: Training, Certificates, and Certification on the NACM CORE®
The NACM CORE® (https://nacmCORE.org/) is a comprehensive training program for court managers. NACM’s intent in promoting these competencies goes beyond providing information for professionals working in court administration to also promoting excellence in the administration of justice and court management. … Read more »
Rising to the Challenge: Deploying a Multi-Agency Integrated Case Management System—the Spokane Experience
Since 1988, the State of Washington Administrative Office of the Courts has maintained an internally developed statewide case management system for all courts of limited jurisdiction known as the Judicial Information System (JIS). Although the system has been upgraded periodically, it… Read more »
A Joint Invitation for Your NACM Participation
Committee activities noted in this issue represent just a few examples of the numerous ways NACM members can get involved. It can be intimidating at first to step in, especially if you aren’t familiar with other NACM members or know committee… Read more »
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© 2025 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.