Court Leader's Advantage

Tuesday, September 21, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode Threats from cyberattacks can be easily ignored by courts. There are many rationalizations: “Our court is too small to worry about cyberattacks” “We have a great firewall that keeps everything out” “Our employees change their passwords every three months just like clockwork” “Everyone has been told not to open suspicious email a...

IACA’s Global Conversation Podcast Summer 2021 Measuring judicial performance is a burning topic in many countries around the globe. How to balance the need for timely case resolution with the necessity for just results is a question many court experts have often pondered. Today, our panel of international court professionals will discuss the implications of measuring judicial performance. This ep...

Tuesday, August 17, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode Local Courts can offer incredible opportunity for both defendants and for the community. They are positioned precisely at a point to curtail dangerous behavior before it grows worse. The array of problem-solving courts nationally, often managed on a shoestring budget, is astounding. This does not make up for the fact that local cou...

Tuesday, July 20, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode Local Courts are the least analyzed components of the American court system. This is particularly ironic since there are thousands of local courts, far more than there are courts of general jurisdiction. It has been estimated that they process over three and a half million criminal cases and collect at least two billion dollars in fi...

Tuesday, June 15, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode Long days of travel, strange hotels, and strange food. Yes, international assignments can include all of these. But it can also afford the opportunity to make real change and create real change in yourself. This month we are talking to folks who have engaged in international rule of law assignments in countries around the world. We’r...

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode International work can be challenging. It can also be very rewarding. No matter what, it is an adventure you will remember for the rest of your life. Have you thought about it? Wondered if it was for you? Where would you even go to get answers to your questions? This month we are talking to folks who have served as consultants on rule...

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode This week we are continuing our April 20th conversation with our panel on what is the key to effective communication, particularly during the pandemic. This week our panel covers topics including rumors and misinformation, the importance of “virtual water cooler” time, and the challenge of delivering unwelcome news. You will remember...

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode It seems that at some point in every class the facilitator utters those words, “communication is key.” We all know however, that communication must be effective to make a difference. So, what is the key to making communication effective? In this episode, we are going to explore communication. How to make it count. How to avoid wastin...

Tuesday, March 16, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode The Coronavirus has created a crisis in America’s jails and prisons. Many of these facilities have become COVID hotspots. Although sometimes overlooked, the pandemic also poses an enormous risk for juveniles who are detained. It is surprising to learn that, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, there were actually more young p...

Thursday, February 18, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode Back in October of 2019, for most courts, working remotely from home was a privilege granted to a small number of court employees. It seemed to be granted mostly to Court Technology workers and Executive Office staff who were working on some major project. Who would have thought that just six months later, courts across the coun...

Thursday, January 28, 2021, Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Bonus Episode Welcome to a bonus episode on how local courts are facing and solving their many complex issues. As mentioned in last week’s episode, these local suburban and rural jurisdictions are very often the representative of the judicial branch in much of America. We are continuing our conversation with clerks of court and court adm...

Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast: January 2021 Episode When we talk about the challenges confronting America’s judicial branch, we often focus on the concerns and accomplishments of large metropolitan courts. After all, they are often the ones that have more money and more resources to throw at a problem.  However, a survey conducted several years ago, revealed that almost 65% of all courts i...

IACA’s Global Conversation Podcast, Thursday, December 31, 2020 Brought to You By the: International Association for Court Administration The Coronavirus pandemic has been a scourge across the globe. It has also been one of the longest lasting and most widespread crises in recent times. It has affected every component of government in every nation that has had to deal with COVID-19. How have court...

Thursday, December 17, 2020, Court Leader's Advantage Podcast Episode Part two of a conversation with our panel of court administrators whose courts have endured multiple concurrent crises. They had to deal with questions of allowing protestors into the courthouse because it is a public building while worrying about vandalism. They struggled to maintain a semblance of an operation with courthouses...

Thursday, November 19, 2020, Podcast Episode Unbelievably, the expression “we are living in unprecedented times” has become a cliché. Since early 2020, so much has happened to us, so quickly, and with so little warning that the only response anyone seems to have is “Well, now what?” Still, because so many extraordinary events have occurred this year, 2020 has much to teach us. We are talking with...

Our July Court Leader’s Advantage video podcast episode on courts and protest marches has garnered considerable interest. Over 300 viewers have accessed the episode. Among those who watched the episode was Norman Meyer, Retired Clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico, who wrote in two questions to ask about court employees, protest marches, our first amendment rights, and...

For decades we court professionals have committed ourselves to the practice diversity and inclusion. We make this commitment to earn the public’s trust and confidence in our nation’s courts. This dedication is ongoing; the work still continues. The goals of diversity and inclusion affirm our pledge to fairness, equity, impartiality, trust, and accountability. They also enhance decision-making, inn...

Over the last forty years, our nation’s courts have been committed to diversity and inclusion, in order to live up to the ideals of fairness and equality, and to build public trust and confidence. While we can point to many improvements, there is still much work to be done. The lessons learned from diversity and inclusion practices point to benefits beyond just furthering the institutional values...

COOPs and the Coronavirus: The Lessons May Surprise You Courts are now in the midst of reopening, yet the Coronavirus is still very much with us. Right now, the United States has had over 2.3 million confirmed cases with over 26,000 new cases reported just yesterday. We have experienced 121,000 deaths from the virus and new projections predict that we will top 200,000 by the fall. In over a third...

Your Court Restarting Trials? Here’s What Works As courts are reopening, many have already held their first trials. Others are planning to start trials in the next month or two. Whether they are conducted in-courtroom, or via video conference-calls, trials are going to look different for some time into the future. What will change for those coming to the courthouse? What will a trial on a video co...

Budget Strategies: What Have We Learned from the Lockdown? About three weeks ago, May 14, 2020, the financial crisis was looming, but the details were still vague. Since then several courts have been forced to begin budget cuts that have included layoffs and furloughs. Yet even now all we can say about the national situation is, it remains fluid. Dread over the upcoming economic statistics turned...

Courts and Protest! also Virtual Hearings: What Have We Learned After Three Months? The events that have transpired since late February of this year defy classification. · A pandemic the likes of which this country has not seen since the 1918 Spanish flu · Unemployment numbers that rival the 1929 Great Depression · Now protests and riots in dozens of American cities sparked by the killing of an un...

What Will the Courthouse of the Future Look Like? As more courts reopen many practical problems are emerging. How to social distance in courthouses and courtrooms that are ill-equipped for this kind of crisis? What kinds of traffic and crowd management tools are available? What will courthouses look like ten or fifteen years from now? The panel discusses how courts will manage crowds of court user...

Ready to Reopen: What You Should Be Thinking About Now Almost all states have reopened, yet the future is still uncertain as COVID cases continue to climb and a vaccine appears unlikely before 2021. Courts are faced with an ever-growing array of challenges. Keeping employees, judicial staffs, litigants, and attorneys safe while reopening courthouses. Dealing with an ever-growing backlog of cases....

Budget Cuts: The Crisis in a Crisis  As if the Coronavirus crisis was not enough, our country now faces the worst unemployment figures since the 1929 Great Depression. People not working means people unable to pay taxes. State and local governments are experiencing staggering declines in tax revenue. Sales taxes are decreasing since, despite states reopening, many people are still not going t...