NAPCO membership is open to presiding, chief and leadership judges, court executives and others …
Read more →Save the Date! NAPCO Conference • Wilmington, Delaware • August 16-19, 2026
Read more →The COVID-19 pandemic has limited access to courts across the country, including in Massachusetts. In response, staff and students from Suffolk University Law School in Boston are working with a team of volunteers to develop mobile applications that will allow members of the public to remotely submit court forms for emergency housing and family law matters.
The headlines of the number of people who have contracted the coronavirus, the people who have died, and the fact that scores of people live in senior citizens homes that no longer allow visitors – all of this drives you to think of your own mortality. Michael Landon once said, “Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows.” But it is hard to do what you want to do and maintain social isolation.
In 2015, CCJ, COSCA, NACM, and NAPCO jointly created the Mary C. McQueen Award for Excellence and Leadership in Justice System Improvement. hroughout her career, Ms. McQueen has been an advocate for court and judicial reform, has advanced the field of court administration significantly in her service to the court and justice community, and has demonstrated leadership excellence at the national, state, and local levels of judicial administration.
How effective has your Court Leadership Team been in dealing with the pandemic crisis? Please Join this national conversation on leading effectively amid a crisis.
A Florida judge is issuing an urgent plea to attorneys during the coronavirus pandemic: Please put on a shirt before logging in to a court hearing via videoconference. Judge Dennis Bailey, who sits on the bench in family court in Broward County, said in a recent letter to the Weston Bar Association that he and his fellow jurists have dealt with a number of inappropriately dressed attorneys on Zoom video calls.
As COVID-19 continues its assault on the country, residents in more than 10 states have been ordered to stay home and businesses, including restaurants, health clubs and entire malls, have been closed as governors nationwide take extraordinary steps in an effort to protect public health. Under what legal authority do such orders fall – and are there legal limits on government actions during a health emergency?
When things are going well, it’s pretty easy being a court leader. Operations are going according to plan, caseloads are managed reasonably well, and there are no tricky decisions to make about work assignments, services, staff or budgets. It is still possible to screw things up, but a rising tide tends to lift all boats, or in our case, all court leaders. It is in a crisis that leaders show their mettle. Judges and staff will look to leaders for direction. Sometimes, as with the covid-19 pandemic, the problem will be something few bosses could have reasonably anticipated. Now, they are expected to chart a steady course within days as the crisis continues to unfold.
