1 5-2 Final Project Milestone Two: Draft of Judicial Administration Monique Fletcher Global Campus, Southern New Hampshire University JUS- 261: Judicial Administration Instructor: Scott Garland, M.A. October 9, 2022
2 "The court calendar lists the cases to be heard during a scheduled session of court. It is the calendar in the courthouse which lists the cases and hearings to be held by a court on a particular day, week, or month. It is also called a docket, trial schedule or trial list" (Legal Information Institute, 2021). There are two ways that courts assign cases to judges: Individual Calendar In this system, cases are assigned to judges when it is filed, usually in rotation or a random method. The judges manage their own caseloads and are also responsible for those cases until it is time until for the disposition. For this system, scheduling calls take place within the judge's chamber, and the process is managed by the judge's administrative staff (National Center for State Courts, 2020). Master Calendar In this system, when cases are filed, they are places into a pool for further action and assignment to judges who frequently rotate duties. When motions are filed in a case, the presiding judge receives the case and at the conclusion of the motion hearing, the case is then reassigned to the pool to await further action. On the day of the trial, the case is them assigned to the next available judge. This process is managed by a centralized court office. Under a master calendar system, as cases are filed, they are placed into a common pool to await further action and assignment to judges. In this system, judges frequently rotate among duties. As motions are filed in a case, the judge currently serving as the motions judge receives the case; at the conclusion of the motion hearing, the case is reassigned to the pool to await the next action. On the trial date, the case is assigned to the next available judge. In this type of system case
3 scheduling is handled by a centralized court office. The master calendar system also requires large courtrooms for the purpose of holding calendar calls where all the cases for the term are scheduled to appear (National Center for State Courts, 2020). These types of scheduling systems are effective in promoting efficiency because it has an impact in which case files are managed. In an individual calendar, case files may reside within the judges' chambers until the deposition of the case. In a master calendar, the case files will circulate among different judges and the clerk's office. These systems also have an impact on the requirements in which files are managed in the judge's chambers, the clerk's office, and as it relates to the requirements for adjacency (National Center for State Couts, 2020). Federal District Court In this system, there may be different methods of assigning cases to a judge to ensure that cases are distributed equally, and to prevent judges from judge shopping.