Development of the Profession of Court Management: A History With Commentary

Abstract

This article reviews the evolution of court management in a succinct historical overview. The state level saw the first major efforts at developing court management, essentially driven by increasing caseloads and population increases. Court management in the trial courts followed. More broadly, the authors see court reform movements as the essential setting for the development of professional management. Issues included court organization, structure, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, caseflow management and processing time standards, sources of funding and many others still familiar to the field. Educational programs emerged in a context of the development of a professional and scholarly literature on court management. The article ultimately considers whether court management has achieved the status of a profession. The authors see an “emergent” profession in which some or most of the generally accepted criteria for a profession are met.