This award honors Judge William R. McMahon of Ohio, an outstanding member of the Executive Committee of the ABA Judicial Division National Conference of Specialized Court Judges (NCSCJ) and Chair of the Conference’s Modern Technology in the Courts Committee from 1990 until his death in 1994. Judge McMahon was a leader in the implementation of technological advances in the courts. He participated in the Judicial Electronic Document and Data Interchange Committee and was also active in the Center for Advance Study in Telecommunications at the Ohio State University. Judge McMahon operated the Bulletin Board System for the Ohio Judicial Network and chaired the JADTECH conference on ABA/net.
Criteria for Selection
The selection of a judge, court employee or attorney who has made the most significant implementation of technological advances in a court of limited or special jurisdiction shall be in accordance with these rules adopted by the Awards Committee of the National Conference of Specialized Court Judges.
The recipient shall be a judge or court employee in a court of limited or special jurisdiction or an attorney who practices in a court of special or limited jurisdiction who has made a significant implementation or development in the use of modern technology in a court of special or limited jurisdiction. This may be in an individual court, or on a regional, tribal, statewide or national basis.
Rules
- Consideration of nominees for the William R. McMahon Award shall be commenced upon the filing, by a person other than the candidate, of a written nomination in the form prescribed by the NCSCJ Awards Committee.
- The nominee for this award shall show leadership in the implementation of technological advances in a court of limited or special jurisdiction.
- The following categories of courts are considered to not have "limited or special jurisdiction" as that phrase is used in these rules:
Federal or state appellate courts, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Courts of Claims or state courts of claims, U.S. Courts of Customs and Patent Appeals, U.S. Courts of International Trade, U.S. Temporary Emergency Courts of Appeals, U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, or U.S. Magistrate Courts or federal or state administrative law courts. - The innovation/utilization shall be judged among the following criteria:
- demonstrated improvements in service;
- demonstrated improvements in efficiency;
- the ability to replicate this implementation or development in other courts of limited or special jurisdiction;
- innovation and creativity;
- the improvement of access to justice particularly with respect to pro se and self-representing litigants, and
- utilization of technology.
- Nominations shall be solicited from court administrators and judges from across the nation in a manner determined by the NCSCJ Awards Committee.
- Sitting Members of the NCSCJ Awards Committee will not be eligible for the award in the year they serve. All communications among members shall be deemed confidential. The identity of the nominees and their nominators, except the winner of the award, shall remain confidential.
- The Executive Committee of the National Conference of Specialized Court Judges occasionally may revise or amend these rules without notice to any nominator, nominee or other person. Any change that would adversely affect a nomination which the NCSCJ Awards Committee has begun to consider shall not be implemented while that nomination is pending.
Nominations
The 2025 William R. McMahon Award will be presented at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto, ON, from August 6-12, 2025. Nominations are now open with a submission deadline of March 12, 2025.