Judicial Division

    Resources

    ABA Policy Document Library

    Current and active House of Delegates and Board of Governors policies from the 1988 Midyear Meeting to the current year.

    Judicial Division Sponsored Policies:

    Court Technology

    The Judges' Journal: Technology Column 
    Columnist Judge Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. shares his expertise on technology and the courts.

    JD Court Technology Committee
    The Committee publishes a regular column on court technology in the JD Record as well as produces programming in both webinar and in-person format. All JD Members are welcome to join the Committee and its JD Connect Community to share information and discuss latest technologies in the court.

    Legal Technology Resources Center
    The LTRC educates and assists ABA members with the latest legal technology, allowing lawyers to boost efficiency and ultimately provide clients with the highest quality service.

    AVIT Infrastructure Guidelines for Courts
    Design guidelines for architects, AV/IT specialists, judges, court administrators, and others concerned with courthouse and courtroom construction and renovation. Courtesy of InfoComm International and the American Institute of Architects.

    Diversity and Outreach

    Judicial Division Diversity Resources
    Access materials, tools, programs, projects and initiatives to help bring diversity in the courts and improving the public understanding of the judiciary. 

    Building a Diverse Bench: Selecting Federal Magistrate and Bankruptcy Judges 
    Produced by the ABA Judicial Division and the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, this manual provides guidance on how courts can increase diversity among federal magistrate and bankruptcy judges. 
    Download Manual | Press Release

    Judicial Outreach Resource Center
    The Divisions' Judicial Outreach Network Committee provides outreach resources for judges on civic education for students.

    Informed Voters Project
    View the Informed Voter's Project short film, “Fair and Free,” featuring Sandra Day O'Connor (EN). The Judicial Division is a proud partner of The Informed Voters Project, a project of the National Association of Women Judges.  

    National Judicial Outreach Week (NJOW)
    NJOW was established to encourage judges and lawyers who support a fair and impartial judiciary to engage the community directly and to confirm the public’s commitment to ensuring that the courts remain fair and impartial. Materials and tools are available to assist with planning your presentation. 

    Implicit Bias Videos and Toolkit
    The ABA Diversity and Inclusion 360 Commission explored the existence of implicit bias and what can be done to combat it through a series of videos specifically targeting key players in the judicial system: judges, prosecutors and public defenders.  The videos are accompanied by a toolkit that offers additional resources and materials that can be used in training programs for those groups of professionals.

    Perceptions of Justice Project
    The Perceptions of Justice (POJ) provides an open forum for dialogue between judges and members of the community about perceptions of and personal experiences with the justice system. July 2011 POJ Written Report.

    Ethics

    Model Code of Judicial Conduct 
    The Model Code of Judicial Conduct is intended to establish standards for ethical conduct of judges, provide guidance to judges and candidates for judicial office and provide structure for regulating conduct through disciplinary agencies.

    Judicial Performance Evaluation Resources 
    The Lawyers Conference provides information, guidelines and tools on how to begin or enhance a judicial evaluation program in your state.

    Judicial Ethics Column: The Judges' Journal
    Columnist Marla N. Greenstein provides her insight on the latest ethical issues facing the judiciary.

    Judicial Ethics Lecture Series 
    Produced by members of the Judicial Division Ethics & Professionalism Committee, a compilation of short presentations on various judicial ethics issues are available to JD members only. 

    Fair and Impartial Courts

    • Defending Justice: Essays on Judicial Independence
    • Rapid Response to Unfair and Unjust Criticism of Judges 
      The Bar has a special responsibility to ensure that judges remain highly respected leaders of our legal system and communities. Serious inaccurate or unjustified criticism should be answered through a public information program. Developed by the ABA Standing Committee on Judicial Independence, this pamphlet builds upon the efforts of the original subcommittee on Unjust Criticism of the Bench that prepared the 1986 protocol, the 1997 protocol of the ABA Judicial Division and Lawyers Conference and the protocols of many state and local bar associations that were received in preparation of the current document.
    • TIPS Toolkit for Fair Court Funding
    • Federal Court Funding
    • Judicial Vacancies
    • Judicial Bench Card - Handling High Profile Police Cases: A Compilation of Best Practices
      A bench card for judges from the JD Police, Community Relations and Media Perceptions Committee to assist in: (a) Keeping the community informed (b) Collaborating with local media (c) Selecting a fair and impartial jury (d) Protecting civil rights and (e) Maintaining public trust in courts.
    • Roadmap Series on Judicial Issues
      Once an ABA presidential appointed entity, the Coalition for Justice’s mission was to build public trust and confidence in a fair and impartial justice system through partnerships with the public in justice reform. The mission, now encompassed within the Judicial Division Lawyers Conference, has made the Coalition produced series on judicial issues available for a free download.

    Juries

    Traffic Safety Resources

    The Judicial Division and the NHTSA are committed to providing educational information to members of the judiciary who adjudicate traffic safety cases.