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Harvard Executive Session and
National Symposium on Court Management

WHAT ARE
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS?

The Executive Sessions at the Harvard Kennedy School bring together individuals of independent standing who take joint responsibility for rethinking and improving society's responses to an issue.

Members of the Executive Session for State Court Leaders in the 21st Century explored a broad array of themes, including

  • the use of budget crises as adaptive challenges to court leaders,
  • identification of essential principles for effective court governance,
  • the tension between problem solving and decision making,
  • the challenges social media pose to court legitimacy,
  • how courts defend themselves from political attack,
  • and the notion of chief justices as civic leaders. 

Many topics were developed by members into papers that are being published in a series by NCSC and posted on this page.

MORE RESOURCES

Since 1981, the State Justice Institute and Bureau of Justice Assistance have sponsored a series of symposia, hosted by the NCSC, to reflect upon the progress and anticipate the challenges of adminstering and managing state courts.

Publications, presentations and video of the sessions from the 4th National Symposium on Court Management in 2010 can be found here.

A post-conference report on The Role of State Court Leaders in Supporting Public Policy that Affects the Administration of Justice,
held at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia in May 2008, is here.

 Harvard Executive Session for Court Leadership sponsor logos

Harvard Executive Session

Through its six meetings over three years, the Harvard Executive Session set out to both develop and answer questions that U.S. state courts will face in the foreseeable future, attempting to clarify what leaders of state courts can and should do to distinguish their role in our system of democratic governance.

The Executive Session for State Court Leaders in the 21st Century was funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the State Justice Institute, and the National Center for State Courts.

Published Papers in the “Perspectives on State Court Leadership” Series:

View may also view a list of forthcoming papers

David B. Rottman, Ph.D., a Principal Court Research Consultant at the National Center for State Courts, discusses the Harvard Executive Session.

4th National Symposium on Court Management

The 4th National Symposium on Court Management focused on managing the business of courts – their essential functions; organizational structure and governance; and the challenge for today and tomorrow.

The symposium was first convened in 1981 to reflect upon the progress and anticipate the challenges of administering and managing state courts.