National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

How to Deal with a Passive-Aggressive Colleague: A Five-Step Plan

Passive-aggressive behavior thrives because it is difficult to call out. Unlike openly hostile colleagues, passive-aggressive individuals maintain plausible deniability. They can always claim they were misunderstood or that they were “just trying to help.” They rarely say anything explicitly offensive, yet their actions consistently undermine others. If you think of colleagues or coworkers who never say anything during meetings, they just silently smile and nod and pretend to be interested and aligned, but then, when you think of it, you never really know what they think, who they are, and they rarely deliver anything or produce much at all.Passive-aggressive behavior thrives precisely because it is difficult to call out. Unlike openly hostile colleagues, passive-aggressive individuals maintain plausible deniability. They can always claim they were misunderstood or that they were “just trying to help.” They rarely say anything explicitly offensive, yet their actions consistently undermine others. If you think of colleagues or coworkers who never say anything during meetings, they just silently smile and nod and pretend to be interested and aligned, but then, when you think of it, you never really know what they think, who they are, and they rarely deliver anything or produce much at all. Once you start noticing it, you will probably realize how common it is.

The Declaration of Independence Still Defines America’s Purpose

What explains the Declaration of Independence’s potency? I think Americans are drawn to it for the same reasons human beings are so often drawn to sacred scripture. Commandment and covenant, the Declaration is the biblical base of America’s civic religion, offering precept and promise. We turn to it in remembrance of battles won – beginning with the Revolutionary War itself – and to arm ourselves for battles still to come.

Judicial Canons of Ethics Apply to Judges’ Administrative, Supervisory Roles

Recently, the American Bar Association released a formal ethics opinion that provides guidance on the ethical obligations of judges under the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct when exercising administrative, employment and supervisory authority.

WEBINAR: Nurturing Innovation as a Court Leader

Leadership plays an integral role in driving innovation within any organization, including trial courts, by setting the tone, creating an experimental culture, and inspiring others to think creatively and take calculated risks. Inventive leaders also provide a clear vision and purpose that motivate teams to approach problems in imaginative, insightful ways while enhancing the very purposes of courts.

How Courts Can Help Solve the Access-to-Justice Problem

The internet flattens the world, allowing equal access to all largely without cost, right? Wrong. The internet allows access to all sorts of information, but only after algorithms funnel users to specific websites. And as discussed here, litigants searching for help are algorithmically funneled to courts—not to low-cost self-help providers. With modern legal technology now widely available, the primary constraint on access to justice is no longer the absence of tools. It is the inability of those tools to reach the litigants who need them. This article provides background for that gap, shows how it gives courts a unique opportunity to help, and recommends some solutions and innovations, all based on recent experiences in this realm seeking to create new pathways to justice.

WEBINAR: The Life and Legacy of Ernie Friesen: Court Reformer par Excellence

Many court leaders throughout the United States and worldwide were recently saddened to learn Ernie Friesen, one of the most influential icons in court and judicial management, died December 11, 2025 at 97 years of age. His work toward improving trial court governance structures and case processing efficiencies is legendary, living on today as strategic, practical principles in managing courts and evidence-based remedies for reducing needless court delay.

WEBINAR: The Importance of Character in Leading

Leadership character is a lot more than ethics. Though moral, upstanding behavior certainly contributes to a strong, principled leader, new research by MIT Sloan School of Management and the Ivy Business School in Canada reveals a much broader spectrum of values and associated behaviors that condition leadership character.