The National Center for State Courts is an independent, nonprofit court improvement organization founded at the urging of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren E. Burger.  He envisioned NCSC as a clearinghouse for research information and comparative data to support improvement in judicial administration in state courts.

Over twenty years ago, the Institute for Court Management merged with NCSC, adding an educational curriculum especially designed for court managers.  In the early 1990s, an international division was formed to offer a similar array of research, consulting, education, and information services to strengthen the rules of law in countries around the world.

All of NCSC's services — research, information services, education, consulting — are focused on helping courts plan, make decisions, and implement improvements that save time and money, while ensuring judicial administration that supports fair and impartial decision making.

 

Areas of Expertise

Appellate Justice	Jury management
Budgeting & Financial Administration	Organizational management
Caseflow & Workflow management	Performance measurement
Children, Families & Elders	Problem solving courts
Civil justice	Sentencing & Probation
Court statistics	Technology
Emergency preparedness & Court security	Trust & accountability
Facilities planning	Workload assessment
Human resources

 

NCSC INTERNATIONAL

Formed in 1992, NCSC International assists counterparts abroad in reforming and modernizing the entire justice sector, including:

-management and administration

-education and training

-justice system organizations and governance

-judicial independence

NCSC serves institutions and organizations worldwide that are seeking innovative solutions to justice system problems. NCSC International’s approach is results-oriented and highly participatory, involving a broad spectrum of stakeholders in analyzing problems, setting priorities and selecting sustainable solutions.

NCSC International has implemented projects funded by individual governments, as well as by:

-U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

-U.S. Department of State’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau (INL)

-World Bank

-Asian Development Bank (ADB)

-British Department for International Development (DFID)

-United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

-U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL)

-Inter-American Development Bank (IDB )

 

It has worked in over 30 countries, engaging in comprehensive rule of law projects in Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. This includes countries with civil-law and common-law systems, Shari’a-based systems, and traditional settlement systems. Increasingly, its projects are located in post-conflict and fragile state environments.