National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

Legal innovation and generative AI: Lawyers emerging as ‘pilots,’ content creators, and legal designers.

With gen AI, so much of the lawyering that we’re used to doing manually will be easily automated and readily available for our adoption. For many, that’s a scary thought and leads us to wonder if it makes what we do less important or relevant. My perspective is the exact opposite: I see this as a tremendously exciting time in our profession, because the best use of this newly emerging automation stack can free up real time that lawyers use on heavily time-consuming work with lower payof. It releases that time to let us do more creative, tailored, and innovative work that will allow us to ramp up our expertise and craft unique value.

What Were They Thinking?: Musings of a Jury Deliberation Process

I’ve worked at the NCSC for over 30 years with most of my career focused on the topic of jury system management and jury trial procedure. During this time, my perspectives have mostly been informed by the professional views of judges, lawyers, court administrators, and academics. Only occasionally did I interact with actual jurors. At best, I could only imagine myself in their place when thinking about policies and practices that would benefit the institution of trial by jury. This changed this week when, much to my surprise, I was selected as a trial juror in a criminal case in my local court.

2024 NAPCO Conference – Denver

Registration is now open for the 2024 NAPCO Conference, August 25-28 in Denver, Colorado. Exhibitor and Sponsorship Information is also available.

Where is courtroom technology heading? It’s complicated

Before the pandemic, the extent of courtroom technology was most likely some combination of a VHS/DVD/CD player, an ELMO document and overhead projector, and laptops, notebooks or tablets so lawyers could run PowerPoint, TrialPad or some other presentation program. And that was assuming the courtroom or jurisdiction had the resources or desire to invest in technology. Thanks to COVID-19, courts underwent a major disruption that led to more widespread adoption of technology.

NAPCO Executive Director Transition Group Meets in Arizona

In early January, 2024, a special NAPCO Ad Hoc Leadership Transition Committee met for two days in Arizona to plan and develop a changeover in executive-level operations of the Association pursuant to the retirement of the organization’s executive director, Gordon Griller.

Israel’s Supreme Court Strikes Back

At any other time it would have provoked a constitutional crisis. For much of 2023 Israelis had taken to the streets to protest against the government’s efforts to weaken the power of judges to overrule the government, a step many saw as an attack on Israel’s democracy. Yet when on January 1st Israel’s highest court struck down the judicial-reform law passed just six months earlier, most Israelis shrugged.

Chemerinsky: Expect another momentous year at the Supreme Court

I do not recall ever facing a new year with such a sense of trepidation and even fear of what to expect. The presidential election campaign of 2024 promises to be unlike any we have seen in American history, and it seems inevitable that the U.S. Supreme Court will play a large role. And the docket for the current term is filled with major issues about controversial matters, such as abortion, administrative law, gun rights and the First Amendment and social media.

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