CORE® Champion Program

The CORE® Champion Program now has seventeen (17) session that qualify for the program that cover eleven (11) of NACM’s thirteen (13) CORE® curriculum. The 2023 mid-year conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota highlighted three (3) phenomenal sessions that qualified for the CORE Champion Program covering the Court Governance, Accountability and Court Performance, and Caseflow and Workflow Management. Below are executive summaries of each of these curricula. 

The 2023 annual conference in Tampa, Florida will offer the final session needed for members to apply to become a CORE® Champion. Three (3) session at the conference will qualify for the program covering the Budget and Finance, Public Relations, and Court Governance curriculum. 

Watch for session videos to be posted to the conference page. All qualified sessions can be viewed at a later date for credit. To obtain additional information or the structured response forms please email CORE@nacmnet.org. 

Court Governance 

A court leader needs to be able to manage court operations with consistency and predictability, by providing the guidance and policies for both day-to-day operations and long-term decisions. To do this, the court leader will need to develop and maintain an effective governance structure. A well-developed and effective governance structure should include a set of rules and responsibilities that gives individuals and/or groups of individuals in supervisory/management roles the authority to make binding decisions regarding the organization’s policies, directions and strategies. In developing an effective structure, the court leader will need to ensure that the structure:  

• Upholds the principles of judicial independence, fiscal responsibility and procedural justice.  
• Encourages consistency, predictability and integrity in leadership actions.  
• Promotes a collaborative, strategic partnership between the presiding/administrative judge and court administrator.  
• Promotes participation and consensus building either directly or through representatives of the organization. (On a statewide level this is most often accomplished by a judicial council for state courts; in an urban trial court it may be achieved by a judicial executive committee; for courts with federal jurisdiction, generally by the Judicial Council of the United States, with implementation support provided by the United States Administrative Office of the Courts; for tribal courts, governance is generally determined by the tribal government.)  
• Adheres to the highest ethical standards of the justice system.  
• Fosters positive morale among court personnel. 

Accountability and Court Performance 

Court leaders are accountable to both the judiciary and the public for a well-run court, which means that managers must be able to both effectively measure and manage performance. Ensuring accountability, measuring performance and applying performance measures to court practices are not new concepts. This commitment to delivering fair and speedy justice and improving accountability to the public dates back to the 1970s with the publication of the American Bar Association Time Standards (1976) and the COSCA Time Standards (1983). Over the last several decades, a number of tools have been developed and refined to help court leaders measure and manage performance, such as the Trial Court Performance Standards (1990); Appellate Court Performance Measures (2009); CourTools (2005); the High Performance Court Framework (2010); and the Principles for Judicial Administration (2012). These documents provide a solid foundation for the court community to help court leaders both measure and manage performance. However, tools alone are simply that–tools. Court leaders must be able to apply the tools skillfully to move from performance measurement to performance management. 

Caseflow and Workflow Management 

Court leaders are integral to caseflow and workflow management of the court, ultimately ensuring that the court’s work is performed efficiently and promoting the fair and timely resolution of all cases filed. Effective caseflow and workflow management requires that court leaders have a variety of analytic and communication skills. Caseflow Management is the process by which courts carry out their primary function of moving cases from filing to disposition (and defined post-disposition activities as appropriate), and involves the organization and coordination of personnel and other resources to promote the fair and timely resolution of all cases filed. Workflow Management involves the coordination and support of all tasks, procedures, resources (human and other) necessary to guarantee the work of the court is conducted efficiently and consistent with the court’s purposes and responsibilities. While Workflow Management includes Caseflow Management, it also includes all tasks and functions necessary for the court to operate as an organization. 

Committee Work 

The NACM CORE® Committee continues to focus on content delivery by enhancing the reach of the CORE® Champion Program and ensuring content remains up-to-date. We are currently working to update “The CORE® in Practice: A Guide to Strengthen Court Professionals through Application, Use, and Implementation” and the “Public Relations” curriculum.  

If you are interested in learning more, join the next monthly Committee meeting over Zoom, the Fourth Wednesday of each month at 3:00 pm ET.  Here is the Committee webpage with the Zoom link, past agenda and minutes, resources, and more.   

Kelly Hutton, Dawn Palermo, and Brandon Kimura