Application

The degree to which the judicial branch can promote the rule of law and protect individual rights is, in large part, determined by the respect of the public for its authority. As noted above, court leaders should strive to promote public trust and confidence in courts by creating and promoting an organizational culture that fosters integrity, transparency and accountability for all court processes and proceedings.

Ensuring public trust and confidence in the court, regardless of the court’s jurisdiction and/or environment in which it functions, requires all court leaders to carry out their function(s) in a manner that promotes the following:

• On-going provision of information to the public to ensure understanding of the court process, services available and methods for accessing them.
• Responsiveness to the multiple cultures, languages and special populations who utilize court services, including but not limited to individuals with disabilities, and those with limited literacy or English proficiency.
• Easily accessible assistance for self-represented litigants to help them navigate the judicial process. ¹
• Regular reports to the public summarizing court workload and relevant measures relating to the efficiency and fairness with which it has been handled.

Application

Carrying out the fundamental purposes and responsibilities of a court requires all court leaders, regardless of their specific position, to ensure their respective courts:

• Protect fundamental constitutional and legal rights and promote the rule of law.
• Provide access to all who seek court intervention.
• Support the timely and fair disposition of all cases.

Recognizing that court leaders perform diverse functions in an array of environments, the following are goals that court professionals should aspire to meet:

• Ensure the court’s mission and vision statements support the fundamental purposes and responsibilities of courts.
• Provide education on the purposes and responsibilities of the court for court staff.
• Promote the independence of the judiciary through its budgeting process and independent policy-making functions.

Application

Most court management staff are involved, to varying degrees, in the court’s caseflow and workflow systems. While specific function(s) and responsibilities may vary, court leaders should have a number of key analytic and communication skills.  In particular, court leaders should be able to:

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with judges, court staff and personnel in other organizational entities involved in court processes, including funding authorities, to enable the court to accomplish effective case management.
• Identify variations in caseload type and complexity (e.g., the application of differentiated case management techniques) and assess implications for the court’s caseflow and workflow processes and implement new protocols as needed.
• Use automated management information systems to generate information about operations that allows for the monitoring of case processing.
• Develop performance standards, protocols for monitoring performance and methods to identify emerging issues and potential resources needed to address them. ⁴
• Contribute to the preparation of information about the court’s caseload and caseflow for judges, court staff and other justice system stakeholder.
• Based on the analysis of caseflow, identify situations where backlogs or other inefficiencies exist along with recommendations for improvement.

Application

Not all court leaders will perform all of the functions listed above, and there are undoubtedly additional functions not listed that court leaders may be called upon to perform. Similarly, the range of essential components of court operations and services court leaders will need to perform varies significantly with the level, jurisdiction and organization of the court in which they serve, and are likely change over time. As such, court leaders should develop competencies in more organizational and managerial skills overall to support the other essential components of court operations, with a particular focus on:

• Identification of the courts’ functional requirements to perform and manage daily operations, the personnel and other support required and the skills and resources necessary to ensure that the functions are effectively performed, managed and monitored.
• Development and management of contracts, including the procurement and oversight of services provided by outside entities and sole practitioners, (e.g., interpreters, mental health service providers, etc.) as required, to perform these other essential components of a court’s operation and mission.
• Continual application of the requirements of statutes, court rules, policies and procedures to court operational practices to guarantee all court functions and services are carried out competently, and are consistent with constitutional, statutory and other requirements and evidence-based standards of performance.
• Recognition of and response to demographic and other trends that affect the need for court services, including interpreters and legal assistance.

Application

Providing public information requires court leaders to demonstrate competency in a variety of skills and activities, taking into account the wide range of contexts in which court leaders work.  Specifically, courts leaders should be able to:

• Develop a comprehensive media and information dissemination plan that includes different media such as print, broadcast, news and various forms of electronic, social media and public speaking engagements, as appropriate.
• Provide ongoing education of all court personnel regarding their obligations and limitations for providing information to the public in connection with the various transactions in which they may be involved.
• Connect with and respond to issues of importance in the community relating to the court process, including meaningful access to the judicial process and court services, services to unrepresented litigants, pretrial release options, onsite child care services, services for non-English speaking individuals and others.
• Establish productive working relationships with key community groups and constituencies that can promote the exchange of information in both routine and crisis situations.
• Open lines of communication regarding community perceptions of the court.
• Expand mechanisms for delivering information about the court through multiple formats and vehicles, such as printed documents and reports, telephone, websites, kiosks, social media, news shows and public education forums.
• Nurture strong relationships with the organized bar including bar leaders, local law schools and other relevant groups to promote the timely exchange of information and feedback critical to the court’s operational efficiency as well as its image in the community.

Application

To succeed in fostering a well-educated court, the court leader should strive to ensure that education, training, and development be:

• Continuous and creative — responding both to traditional legal processes and powerful and changing demands.
• Inclusive — ensuring that education, training, and development (judicial branch education) happens in all courts and across the judiciary and justice system and is delivered to a target audience that is broader than judges and court staff.
• Accessible and tailored — requiring that personal and professional growth and skill development opportunities are equally available and readily available and affordable, in time and money; and that they consider the background, experiences and needs of individual judges, staff, and others on whom the courts depend.
• Well-managed — ensuring that judicial branch education for judges, staff, and others is aligned with the court, its mission, vision, structure, and workflows and that it is built using adult learning and instructional design principles to create a transformative learning experience that will empower judges and court staff to apply their learning in their work environment to achieve positive change.  Content should be based on the needs of the audience, with the ultimate goal of improving the administration of justice and enhancing public trust and confidence. ⁶
• Delivered using multiple mechanisms — ensuring that education is interactive and uses blended teaching involving multiple delivery mechanisms including in-person courses and online learning through webcasts and asynchronous learning management systems.
• Evaluated — making sure that judicial branch education programs evolve in response to the social context, needs for equitable access to development opportunities, and assessments of their success in meeting personal needs and organizational priorities.

Court leaders must actively lead and support judicial branch education in their courts. Education, training and development are not pleasurable diversions from daily routines, training for the sake of training, or a luxury. Court leaders are also critical in ensuring that transfer of education occurs by supporting staff who attend training and then return to the workplace and implement what they learned.

The target audience is diverse in education, experience, professional orientation, age, gender and race. Courts have employees who remain with the court their whole career. They also have employees who come and go quickly. When education and training and human resources are aligned, the court is better able to identify, develop and retain its best employees. When talented staff leave the court, competent replacements take their place or are recruited from the outside. This ensures that the most promising people find job satisfaction and acceptable career paths in specific trial courts and state court systems or in the judicial administration profession generally. While judicial branch education supports succession planning, cross-jurisdictional movement of talented staff benefits all courts through organizational learning across all levels of local, state and federal courts. When appropriate, judges and staff should be educated and trained together, especially at the local level. This demonstrates that the judicial and justice system are interdependent; the issues are systemic.

To contribute to the development of individuals, courts and the court management profession, judicial branch education must:

• Span the career of individuals, and not be limited to orientation or training to perform specific tasks.
• Provide for significant interaction among program participants.
• Include experienced professionals as faculty and in the planning and evaluation process to ensure real and perceived problems are addressed in every program.
• Utilize adult education and instructional design principles in the planning and delivery of courses in order to effectively convey the knowledge and information, as well as to develop the skills, abilities, and attitudes necessary for judicial officers and court staff to perform at their highest level.
• Address a wide variety of topics, both practical and theoretical. Through programs that meet these criteria, courts are better able to become and remain learning organizations. Education, training and development sustains enduring principles, maintains and protects daily routines, and stimulates needed change. Those in leadership positions set the vision and take responsibility for the maintenance of the organization and its growth and transformation. Education and development is a critical means to advance the court’s values, vision, and achieve desired goals.  The bottom line is excellent trial court and justice system performance.

Application

The court leader performing functions relating to the management, development and motivation of the court workforce, should be able to competently:

• Attract, engage and retain a diverse workforce.
• Develop and continually update a comprehensive manual of personnel policies and procedures that relate specifically to the court.
• Ensure merit-based selection and promotion.
• Encourage staff development by resolving performance problems and setting and supporting goals to be achieved.
• Create a “high performance” work culture and environment by developing performance expectations, metrics-oriented performance monitoring systems and feedback and review mechanisms. ⁷
• Assess and recommend appropriate personnel classification and competitive compensation, benefit and reward structures.
• Identify staff education needs and secure resources for meeting those needs.
• Use a variety of staff development tools: education, training, coaching, mentoring and professional development opportunities of both a basic and advanced nature that meet individual and organizational needs. ⁸
• Support activities that address generational and other differences in the workforce.
• Create a work environment that recognizes and optimizes extrinsic and intrinsic motivators.
• Set and monitor ethical standards and behaviors. ⁹
• Employ efforts to enforce policies that prohibit harassment, bullying and other actions that define a hostile work environment.

Application

Ethical court leaders should be able to understand and competently promote (through their own behavior) the following concepts:

• Acting appropriately and projecting the appearance of acting appropriately in performing court administrative work.
  • Working diligently, efficiently, equitably, thoroughly, courteously, honestly, truthfully, impartially, without bias or prejudice, and with transparency
  • Carrying out properly issued court orders and rules
  • Staying within a court professional’s authority, and not using one’s position to secure unwarranted privileges or dispense favors
  • Resisting improper influences from business, family, position, party, and friends, or interests that might impair one’s impartiality
  • Avoiding activities that might impugn the dignity of the court
  • Being cognizant of the rights of those in protected classes
  • Treating co-workers and all those who interact with the court with dignity, respect and courtesy
  • Notifying appropriate authorities whenever oneself, one’s family, or one’s friends, are a party in a court action
  • Comprehensively answering questions involving standard court procedures, while carefully avoiding giving legal advice
  • Recruiting, selecting, and advancing staff based on work–related factors, and not favoritism
  • Avoiding (whenever possible) directly supervising family members, and avoiding opportunities to influence a family member’s employment or promotion
  • Reporting attempts to compel one to violate these canons
  • Refusing to inappropriately destroy, alter, falsify, mutilate, or backdate court records; ensuring that appropriate entries are made;
  • Maintaining court confidentialities, but properly providing confidential information to authorized individuals
  • Applying good judgment in weighing the credibility of Internet data
  • Treating personal information with the discretion one would want others to use if placed in a similar situation
  • Using the court’s resources, property, and funds judiciously as prescribed.
• Minimizing conflicts of interest in one’s official position
  • Avoiding outside employment, business activities, even subsequent employment and business activities that reflect poorly on the judiciary and on one’s own professionalism, even after leaving the court;
  • Notifying court authorities before accepting work or business opportunities outside the court;
  • Neither asking for nor accepting compensation beyond that received in the course of public employment;
  • Engaging in outside employment only as it does not conflict with the performance of one’s official responsibilities or violate this code;
  • Disclosing financial interests and dealings required by law, rule, or regulation.
  • Acting appropriately regarding political activity
  • Retaining the right to vote, while limiting political activity to after business hours and only using non–court resources;Unless campaigning for one’s own elected position taking unpaid leave to run for office.
• Acting appropriately regarding political activity
  • Unless campaigning for one’s own elected position taking unpaid leave to run for office.
  • Retaining the right to vote, while limiting political activity to after business hours and only using non–court resources;

Application

Managing the court’s budget and resources often involves multiple staff performing interrelated functions. Regardless of the particular court environment in which court leaders function, competency in managing the court budget and resources should reflect a court leader’s ability to:

• Develop budgets, including the use and application of key metrics for budget planning, development, program delivery, audits, assessment of program outcomes and allocation or reallocation of resources necessary to meet the court’s needs and provide justification to funding bodies.
• Manage varied resources necessary for the court to operate.
• Develop a plan for responding to potential budget cuts or for funding new projects.
• Identify and support the range of resources the court needs to function.
• Manage the court’s assets to safeguard their adequacy to support the court’s functions.
• Ensure timely financial management and auditing.
• Communicate the court’s fiscal and other resource needs to executive and legislative branch representatives through regular communication in which the court’s needs are presented within a framework of justice system — not simply court — operations.
• Collect and use workload and performance indicators that reflect budget needs and priorities.
• Define key fund accounts and assess the true cost of applying for and managing grant funds.
• Define relevant financial policies for the court.
• Develop a plan of action for emergency situations involving the court’s fiscal operations and facilities.

Application

In terms of court operations and services, what is measured and how it is measured depends on the specific context and environment in which a court operates. Nevertheless, to effectively measure and manage performance, court leaders, regardless of their specific function(s) or environments, should work to achieve the competency in:

• Analytic skills to organize, collect and analyze data.
• Management skills focused on applying the knowledge gained from the analysis of data to improve the performance of court operations.
• Communication skills to convey information about performance.

Court leaders who are effective at measuring and managing performance should be able to:

• Address Expectations — identify, understand and apply performance measures that address litigant expectations that the court process is clear, well designed and procedurally fair. The outcome is connected to the key court events and the administrative practices ensure the court process is purposeful and deliberative.
• Address Effectiveness — identify, understand and apply performance measures that address the effectiveness of court procedures in the handling of cases, such as avoiding unnecessary litigation costs and time, while evaluating how court operations balance the desire for appropriate attention given to every case with the concurrent responsibility to treat cases proportionately, given the limitation of resources and growing caseload demands.
• Address Efficiency — identify, understand and apply performance measures and targeted benchmarks that reveal how well court resources are allocated, whether the court’s processes and procedures are efficient and the level of productivity of judges and court staff collectively in reducing time to disposition and eliminating unnecessary actions that do not contribute toward the disposition of a case or delivery of services to litigants and others requiring court services.
• Diagnose Results — apply the results of performance measurement activities to improve court performance, identify areas of work warranting correction and suggest what practices call for modifications.
• Organize and Present Data — present the results of performance measurement activities in a format that promotes understanding and use by judges, court staff, justice system partners and the public.
• Effectively Communicate — communicate to the public and its public policy partners the performance of the court in carrying out its constitutional duties, performing the necessary operational responsibilities and meeting the expectations of the public and court’s public policy partners and areas warranting improvement.
• Integrate Results to Promote a System Orientation for On-going Improvement of Court operations and services — incorporate the principles and methods of performance measurement into all aspects of court operations that are focused on accountability, continuous improvement and enhancing knowledge through managing for results and responding to changing circumstances.
• Efficiently Gather Information — use appropriate methods to gather information, to identify problems, determine the critical questions to ask and identify data requirements and data sources needed.
• Organize Data — collect and store data in a form that facilitates the analytical process: identify trends and patterns and distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information.
• Develop Meaningful and Valid Data Analysis — identify cause and effect relationships, determine the authenticity and validity of sources of information, identify gaps in information and present findings, conclusions and recommendations in a well-organized, clear and meaningful format to facilitate review and understanding by the decision-makers who are asked to act.
• Disseminate Information to Different Audiences — synthesize and present information adapted to targeted audiences: judges, staff, justice system partners, funders and the public, to promote new perspectives.
• Use Data To Drive Management Decisions — within the framework of recognized standards of practice.

Application

Regardless of the context in which a court operates, court managers who also provide proactive leadership for the court, should be able to:

• Look beyond today’s crises by being grounded in the present while always anticipating the future.
• Be persistent yet flexible, guide with credibility, respect others, and be accountable for actions.
• Inspire others to act. Leadership that creates and sustains improvements has an inspirational dimension.
• Influence and empower leaders and followers to work toward mutual goals.
• Serve as an effective decision maker, conflict manager, and problem solver.
• Simultaneously create, protect and maintain stability while taking risks, questioning the status quo, and stimulating growth and change.

Court managers who are also proactive leaders in their courts must draw upon a variety of competencies, which they will likely develop over time as their experience and perspective mature. Paramount among these are:

• Providing vision with a focus: Leaders create vision; establish action plans that support this vision; and, with the help of others, clearly communicate the roles of departments and individuals in attaining the vision.   Leaders think in the long term and focus their own efforts and the efforts of others on core court purposes and the need to transition from the present to an inspired future.
• Anticipating developments that will affect court operations and decision-making interdependencies with other justice organizations, the private bar, and other constituent groups: The environment in which courts operate is always changing, as a result of changing law enforcement priorities, prosecutorial policies, statutory changes, fiscal and other resources, demographics and many other factors. Court managers who are leaders in their respective courts must be competent in identifying the myriad of factors that will influence the court’s operations and services, anticipate the changes that will potentially occur, and plan for them.[1]
• Proficiency in diagnosis and analysis: Court managers who provide proactive leadership for their courts must develop competency in measuring the court’s progress toward stated goals and meeting the needs and expectations of the public and regular court users, translating the results of this analysis into a plan for the future.
• Effectively carrying out the court’s mission: Court leaders are dedicated to inspiring, preparing, supporting and guiding the court’s organization and people to achieve the all-important purposes of the judiciary. They are focused on insuring citizens’ constitutional rights are protected, that each case receives individual justice, that procedural due process is honored, and our society’s rule of law is preserved and enhanced.

[1] See Creating a Strategic Vision for the Court

Application

Court leaders who play a role in creating a strategic vision for the courts they serve should work, to the extent feasible, be able to competently:

• Create a Strategic Orientation — The manager/leader must be able to create and use a strategic plan as a critical tool to guide the court in planning for and implementing the capabilities needed for the future. This orientation requires the development of long-term goals and objectives as well as short-term and intermediate standards. The court leader should have a commitment to the future of the organization, rather than merely the daily routine, particularly given the relatively short terms for many chief or presiding judges. The court leader must also serve as an agent for change, guiding the court to plan for the future based on critical analysis of current data and trends.
• Use a System Wide Outlook — The court leader must think in terms of the court system, not one particular aspect of it. The strategic plan and vision for the court needs to take into account the interdependencies and complexities that impact the court in terms of demographics, crime trends, fiscal and other realities and related factors. The court leader must also demonstrate skill in incorporating the court’s planning and vision into the broader context in which the court functions.
• Serve as a Consensus Builder and Collaborator — The court leader needs to be able to develop and build group consensus, inspire trust, and generate support from all justice system participants.  Also, the court leaders should develop plans that can be implemented through consensus and foster a shared vision for the future.
• Be an Innovator and Risk Taker — Creating a vision for the future requires the court leader to attempt new initiatives, including those that test new ideas and theories.
• Create a culture in the court that values critical thinking and planning.
• Institutionalize a strategic planning process that is ongoing, revisited with regularity and monitored on a periodic basis, taking into account major trends affecting society and the courts.
• Communicate and Educate – Use orientation and continuing judicial branch education to communicate, educate and thus advance the values and vision of the court.
• Ensure that leadership and management actions are adjusted as necessary with the court’s strategic vision and plan, ensuring successful execution and follow-through on strategic priorities.
• Maintain a local justice-planning network with continuous and effective working relationships with all justice system stakeholders.

Application

Although the efforts of a court leader to promote and sustain an effective governance structure in the court will necessarily be dictated by the organizational and jurisdictional context in which he/she works, the court leader should demonstrate competency in the following areas:

• Work with Judicial System Officials and Others to Uphold the Principles of Judicial Independence, Fiscal Responsibility and Procedural Justice — As addressed in other Competencies, ¹⁷ the court leader must demonstrate skills in developing and monitoring its policies, procedures and practices, as relevant, to ensure the court operates in a manner that is not only fair and impartial but is perceived as such. Further, operational practices should follow established and clearly articulated policies and procedures.
• Promote Consistency, Predictability and Integrity in all Aspects of the Court’s Operation — Regardless of specific court function, the court leader should develop skills necessary to promote consistency, predictability and integrity in all aspects of the court’s operations, compliance with applicable canons of ethics and procedural fairness and promote the purposes and responsibilities for which courts have been established. ¹⁸* *
• Encourage a Collaborative, Strategic Partnership Between Court Management Staff and Judicial Leadership — The ideal partnership between court management and judicial leadership has long been characterized by the court “Executive Team” concept, which requires skill in nurturing and fostering clear roles, defined responsibilities, ongoing access to each other and a shared vision. The administrative judge clearly carries the command prerogative; the court leader is a strategic advisor — a colleague in top-level decision-making — often with additional prescribed management duties outlined in statute, rule, administrative order or custom. The majority of administrative judges also have limited tenure in their positions, often appointed by a supreme court, an executive or legislative body or elected by their colleagues. The court leader, therefore, serves as the link in the governance structure, working with a variety of leadership judges during his or her career.
• Promote Participation and Consensus Building within the Organization — To sustain a court’s governance structure, the court leader should be able to share information constructively with all members of the court organization and to offer straight–forward performance feedback. The court leader should foster an atmosphere of open communication within the organization by making it clear to employees how decisions are made as well as their value to organization.  In doing this, the court leader should articulate each individual’s role in carrying out the court’s purposes and responsibilities as well as the policies and practices developed to fulfill them.
• Foster Positive Morale and a Productive, Engaged Workforce — An effective governance structure provides the foundation for a productive workforce, with lines of authority, responsibilities, decision-making processes and related administrative practices that are clearly articulated and transparent. To build upon this structure, the court leader needs to demonstrate skills in fostering positive morale in the court and promoting organization-wide understanding of and respect for the role that each member of the workforce plays in carrying out the court’s purposes and responsibilities. ¹⁹ These skills should focus on promoting productivity, collegiality and positive motivation among the court workforce, inspiring excellent performance and valuing innovation.
• Promote the Rule of Law and Judicial Independence — Maintaining the rule of law and judicial independence requires an infrastructure that provides for the impartial and timely resolution of disputes. The court is not an ancillary department of government but, rather, a co-equal branch of government whose functions cannot be dispensed when government resources are unduly limited. As such, the court leader must strive for competency in all of the areas needed to promote the stable operation of the court.
• Promote Consistency, Predictability and Integrity in Management Roles and Responsibilities — *An effective governance structure provides the foundation for consistency, predictability and accountability in all aspects of the court’s operation. *Although functions and authority may vary, the court leader should work within the limits of his//her authority to promote consistency, predictability, timeliness and accountability in the work of the court they serve. Where these provisions are either inadequate or don’t exist, the court leader should identify policies and procedures that will remedy the situation.
• Ensure Ethical Conduct — Recognizing the wide scope of potential ethical issues that can arise affecting the integrity of the court process and image of the court system, the court leader needs to develop the ability to identify and promptly address key problems. These may entail the conduct of court staff, attorneys, judges, as well as the integrity of the court process. The court leader should demonstrate competencies in understanding the ethical standards that apply to the court process and its participants (e.g., judges, attorney, court staff, jurors, witnesses and others). It is equally important that the court leader understand how and when to promptly address ethical violations.