Resources

Featured

Judicial & Courtroom Security

The Judicial Security Committee focuses on helping judges to recognize, identify and avoid threats to their personal security and their courtrooms, court staff, and those who come before their courts.

ABA Member Resources Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

The ABA Practice Forward page is a great resource for ABA members to use to help move your practice forward during the pandemic.

COVID-19 and the Courts

In response to the unprecedented demands on the legal system in general and the judiciary in specific, the Judicial Division has gathered resources from its members and outside entities to provide assistance to judges who are operating in uncertain conditions.

Race Equity and Inclusion

Learn more about resources on Racial Equity in the Justice System produced by the Judicial Division.

Wellness Resources

The JD's Wellness Wednesday Series offers a selection of recordings on a variety of wellness topics useful for judges and lawyers in the courtroom.

Judicial Fellows and Judicial Outreach Liaisons (JOL) Program

The JOL Program provides educational information to members of the judiciary who adjudicate traffic safety cases on evidence-based sentencing practices, criminal justice reform, and reducing impaired driving recidivism.

Court Technology

The Judges' Journal: Technology Column

Columnist Judge Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. shares his expertise on technology and the courts.

Legal Technology Resources Center (LTRC)

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.

JD Court Technology Committee

JD Members are welcome to join the Committee and its online community to share information and discuss latest technologies in the court.

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.

Judicial Outreach Resource Center

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Judicial Ethics & Social Media Tip Sheet

Social media provides valuable communication tools for judges. Yet, use of social media also raises ethical, security, and privacy concerns. Do not let social media posts undermine public confidence in the impartiality, integrity, or independence of the judiciary.

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.

Fair and Impartial Courts

Defending Justice: Essays on Judicial Independence

A joint production of the ABA Journal and the ABA Standing Committee on the American Judicial System.

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.

The High-Profile Case: Where the Courts & The Media Meet

The JD Courts and Community Relations Committee is pleased to introduce a new guide to prepare courts, media, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and the community for high-profile cases.

Federal Court Funding

The Federal Judiciary requires sufficient funds to perform the core functions assigned to it by the Constitution and Congress.

Judicial Vacancies

Learn more about the status of judicial vacancies, nominations, and confirmations

Rapid Response to Fake News, Misleading Statements, and Unjust Criticism of the Judiciary

Bar associations have a special responsibility to ensure that the public holds the judiciary in the highest esteem. Judges are, and should be, highly respected leaders of our legal system. In a democracy, the judicial branch must be a co-equal branch with the executive and legislative branches and must always remain independent and not subject to external pressure from the other branches of government.

TIPS Toolkit for Fair Court Funding

The Toolkit is intended to help you better understand the problem and urge you to take action in helping to resolve this fair funding crisis.

Juries

Principles for Juries and Jury Trials

Approved by the ABA House of Delegates, the 2023 version is available for download.

A Fair Trial: Jurors Use of Electronic Devices & the Internet

A Best Practices Paper prepared by the ABA Judicial Division's National Conference of State Trial Judges.

Assessing and Achieving Jury Pool Representativeness

An inclusive and representative jury pool is critical to preserving the right to a fair and impartial jury. featured in the Division's Spring 2016 issue of The Judges’ Journal, this article provides useful guidelines for assessing and improving representatives in juries.