The duties of court administrators vary, depending on the jurisdiction, location, and size of the court in which they are employed.  The court administrator typically functions in administrative areas, rather than legal areas, and therefore requires the specialized skills of any professional position with managerial responsibility.  One presiding judge stated, “We have plenty of lawyers in the court.  What we need is someone who has a managerial background and knows what management is.” In addition to general management skills, basic functions performed by court administrators include the following:

• Caseflow Management – managing and coordinating the processes by which courts move cases from filing to disposition, including the monitoring of post disposition activity, assessment of court order compliance, and continuous process evaluation.
• Human Resource Management – recruiting, selecting, training, developing, counseling, and mentoring court employees; establishing ethical standards and ensuring impartial diversity practices; administering wage, salary, and performance appraisal and reward systems; and facilitating personnel matters for judicial staff.
• Fiscal Administration – preparing court budgets; administering accounting, purchasing, payroll, and financial control functions; acquiring and overseeing grants; and guiding the budget through government review processes.
• Technology Management – evaluating opportunities for technologies that expand the capacity of the court system; providing a growing variety of technologies to navigate information systems; providing electronic transmission of and access to data, images, and other files in automated records management and retrieval systems; assessing emerging technologies for video and telecommunications systems, multimedia tools for education, training, and information delivery; leveraging use of the Web and Internet; utilizing courtroom technology and evidence presentation during court proceedings; and implementing other computer-assisted systems that can improve court performance.
• Information Management – developing the capacity to deliver information to decision makers at critical events; monitoring system performance to milestones established by the court; informing court system employees of events that are outside performance measures established by the court and triggering the appropriate means of intervention; providing appropriate electronic access to court information for attorneys, litigants, governmental agencies, and the public.
• Jury Management – administering the jury system, for those courts with juries, in the most efficient and cost-effective way, and complying with legal requirements, policies, and procedures for summoning, qualifying, and securing the comfort and safety of jurors.
• Facility Management – overseeing the increasingly limited courtroom, hearing room, and other physical spaces to ensure access to all people, and providing adequate room for work and circulation, ultimately to promote public confidence.
• Space Planning – managing, anticipating, planning, and preparing for facility and space needs by partnering with facility planners and architects, and assessing actions required for court renovation, remodel, or construction.
• Security Management – maintaining a strong partnership with law enforcement or security personnel (whether employees or contracted providers), and being well-versed on the practical standards for a secure court facility while able to work collaboratively with all affected parties.
• Intergovernmental Liaison – acting as a liaison to other governmental agencies to promote collaboration, integration of systems, and facilitation of change, while maintaining the integrity of the court as a separate but equal branch of government.
• Community Relations and Public Information – promoting productive media relations, acting as a point of contact for the release of information to the media and the public; collecting and publishing data on pending and completed judicial business and internal functions of the court system; and facilitating or developing appropriate outreach programs for the court’s jurisdiction.
• Research and Advisory Services – identifying organizational and management opportunities for improvement by recommending and implementing procedural and administrative changes, and conducting program and project management.
• Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity – ensuring that leadership and governance as well as processes and protocols are in place to prevent or prepare for, respond to and recover from any threat, emergency, or disaster, to guarantee critical court operations can occur; ensuring that the courts have continuity of operation, with plans in place, in the event of a pandemic, business interruption, or impact affecting court operations.
• Succession Planning – preparing and identifying skills and talent for future court leaders; facilitating staff acquisition of both academic and practical experience; managing, planning, and mentoring staff to obtain the needed skill sets to be prepared to assume future court leadership and roles.
• Keeping the Record – ensuring that court files and court actions, whether through official court reporters or other recording actions, are maintained, secured, and accessible on the proceedings and outcomes of cases.
• Performance Management and Holding the Court Accountable –compiling, using, and publishing appropriate measures on court system performance to include metrics, statistics, and trend data, while recognizing the duty to balance efficient and cost-effective operations with service demands and the fair administration of justice.
• Green (Ecologically Sensitive) Court Practices – considering and employing practices that are environmentally responsible to decrease the impact on resources and reduce energy utilization, while maintaining operational efficiencies in all aspects of court management, and using technology to disseminate court information.
• Project Leadership and Oversight – providing leadership through project management for judicial committees or organizations.

“Courts exist to serve the public, not to serve judges, court managers, or lawyers. Everything that managers do, are but means to an end and that end is service to the public.”

Edward B. McConnell, President Emeritus, National Center for State Courts