The National Center for State Courts‘ Institute for Court Management is excited to announce the development of a new, innovative e-learning course designed to educate and inspire state and local court employees. This approximately 3-hour online self-study course is tailored primarily for new hires and aims to address a critical gap in understanding the essential role courts play in our civil society. Court leaders nationwide have emphasized that many new employees lack a clear grasp of the significance of their work, which can lead to job dissatisfaction and higher turnover rates. This course seeks to change that by establishing a baseline of knowledge for court staff across the country.
Through interactive modules, participants will explore the purpose of courts, the rights and responsibilities of citizens interacting with them, and how courts differ from other branches of government. The course will also highlight how every role within the courts contributes to their overall mission, fostering a sense of purpose and pride in public service.
Developed in consultation with court leaders and judicial educators nationwide, this free resource will be available to all state and local courts in early 2026. It will serve as an invaluable tool for onboarding and professional development, not only for court employees but also for staff in related roles, such as probation offices. By equipping employees with foundational knowledge and emphasizing the importance of their contributions, this course will enhance workforce effectiveness and strengthen public trust and confidence in the courts.
March 1, 2024
The Judicial Innovation Fellowship (JIF) is an initiative incubated at the Justice Lab at Georgetown Law Center’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy. The JIF is a year-long fellowship for technologists, designers, and user testers to transform justice across state, local, territorial, and tribal courts. It is an exciting new opportunity for technologists, product people, and designers …
February 1, 2024
Pretrial policies have undergone significant change and advancement over the last decade. In 2013, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) endorsed the COSCA Policy Paper on Evidence-Based Pretrial Release. CCJ and COSCA also hosted five Pretrial Regional Summits between May 2016 and November 2018 to facilitate the …
January 1, 2024
Most states do not have specialized family court judges, let alone judges dedicated to delinquency cases. Even in states that do have a family court structure, juvenile justice often gets short shrift compared to child welfare in terms of court attention, resources, and improvement efforts. In addition, most states do not provide juvenile court judges …
December 1, 2023
The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) is applying the technical and business definitions of the National Open Data Standards (NODS) to resolve enduring, and common, obstacles to collecting good civil and family court data. Developed by the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), NODS is intended to …
November 1, 2023
The Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School and LaGratta Consulting LLC are conducting a randomized control trial examining the effects of in-person versus remote hearings for self-represented family law litigants in the 3rd Judicial District Court of Utah (Salt Lake County). The project intends to examine case outcomes and litigant experience in both …
October 1, 2023
In 2020, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) was awarded a State Justice Institute (SJI) Technical Assistance grant to retain the services of Catalis by Court Innovations, Inc. (Catalis) to assist the AOC with developing and implementing an online platform to resolve medical debt disputes in Hamilton County, TN, before a lawsuit is …