New webinar series to explore emerging trends in data for courts

In response to the growing need for data-driven decision-making, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is launching a monthly Data Dives Webinar Series starting in August to help courts better understand evolving trends in state court data and provide information that participants can use to improve their court systems.

“Courts handle a lot of data and are increasingly seeking to leverage their data to gain a deeper understanding of their operations, identify trends, and improve efficiency to keep up with the changing court landscape,” said Nicole Waters, NCSC’s director of Research and Design. “This series will help courts turn data into useful, actionable information.”

This initiative builds on over 50 years of NCSC’s work collecting and analyzing state court data to address critical questions and provide insights and strategies to improve court
administration.

The monthly series begins August 15 with a focus on court statistics.? This session will showcase NCSC’s long-standing Court Statistics Project, a joint project with the Conference of State Court Administrators that publishes comparable data on state court caseloads.

Future webinars will explore timely topics such as the use of GIS mapping to identify barriers to accessing legal services, implementation of the National Open Court Data Standards, collection and use of race and ethnicity data, artificial intelligence and ethical considerations, data governance, and others.

The Data Dives webinar series will go beyond data collection. The series will showcase legacy NCSC guidance and resources, with court representatives discussing how their organizations have leveraged the tools to support the fair, equitable, and efficient administration of justice—both now and in the future.

Waters hopes the series will help attendees:

• Develop a more data-literate court workforce that can leverage data for informed decision-making.

• Increase awareness and adoption of best practices in court data collection, analysis, and governance.

• Enhance court efficiency and effectiveness in serving the public.

The Data Dives webinar series benefits anyone involved in state courts, including judges, court administrators, IT, and legal professionals.  For a complete list of topics and to register for the series, visit ncsc.org/datadives.