National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

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.

Ernie Friesen, Court and Judicial Administration Icon, 1928–2025

In his remarkable life, Ernie Friesen pioneered the field of court administration and left a durable legacy of crucial reforms of our judicial system. He was an idealist and a reformer, with a gift for getting to the heart of a problem and a passion for finding practical solutions he could teach the world.

The End of Reality? How to combat deepfakes in our legal system

There’s nothing fake about it. The legal industry is facing a big problem with deepfakes. Courtrooms are not yet flooded with a tsunami of deepfake evidence, but with this artificial intelligence-generated technology playing with great success on social media and in fraud schemes, it’s only a matter of time before deepfakes regularly drop into the exhibit list.

JudgeGPT: The Benefits and Challenges of an AI Judiciary

As litigators begin to incorporate artificial intelligence into their work, some courts are doing the same. A pilot program in Estonia allows litigants in small claims court to submit their disputes to a computer program. Some Brazilian judges regularly use artificial intelligence when drafting decisions. And a virtual judge presides over court proceedings in some parts of China, although human judges make the final decisions. Before American litigators immediately dismiss this trend, or fully embrace it, I offer two benefits and two challenges that this technology may offer to the judiciary.

If the Trump administration defies the courts, what can be done about it?

What happens if the president decides to ignore the Supreme Court? According to constitutional experts, not much. Part of the problem, says Richard Garnett, the Paul J. Schierl professor of law at the Notre Dame Law School, is that courts have always been reliant on the cooperation of the executive branch to enforce their orders and comply with decisions, regardless of whether or it agrees with them.

WEBINAR: Humor: An Important Leadership Tool

Join us for this 60-minute webinar. We’ll look at how you as a court leader can use humor with intention, mine your own life for material, and keep it appropriate. Everyone is funny in their own way and can perfect their sense of humor and learn to deploy it more effectively in strategic ways to help strengthen relationships, unlock creativity in others, and boost resilience in difficult times. Research shows people appreciate almost any kind of levity, provided it is not hurtful or offensive. It’s not hard to stay on the right side of that line.

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