MUNICIPAL COURT ADMINISTRATOR
CERTIFICATION BOARD
GUIDELINES FOR PHASE 3 COURT
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
GENERAL INFORMATION
The court improvement project is an integral part of the certification process, as the results can
benefit both the court system and the public. The topic selected should be one that contributes to
improve the administration of justice and further the Court’s core goals as part of the local
community. The content of the project should be consistent with the Mission and Vision
Statements of the Judiciary:
We are an independent branch of government constitutionally entrusted with the
fair and just resolution of disputes in order to preserve the rule of law and to
protect the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the
United States and this State.
We will be a court system, characterized by excellence that strives to attain justice
for the individual and society through the rule of law. We will:
• Provide equal access to a fair and effective system of justice for all
without excess cost, inconvenience, or delay, with sensitivity to an increasingly
diverse society.
• Offer complementary methods of dispute resolution while preserving the
constitutional right to trial by an impartial judge or jury and ensuring compliance
with results achieved through effective enforcement of court orders.
• Provide quality service that continuously improves, that meets or
exceeds public expectations, and that ensures that all are treated with courtesy,
dignity, and respect.
• Maintain the independence of the Judiciary while strengthening
relations with the public, the bar, and the other branches of government.
• Acknowledge and enhance the potential of every person in our
organization to contribute to the administration of justice through participation,
training, and technology.
• Share a sense of common identity and purpose as a statewide Judiciary.
• Earn the respect and confidence of an informed public.
The project can be one that will either improve the administration or services provided by the
Judiciary as a whole, a vicinage or a single municipal court. The project should embody the core
values of the Judiciary: independence, integrity, fairness and quality service.
The court improvement project should reflect a candidate’s creativity and demonstrate
considerable research, analysis and effort. The completion of this phase is intended to be a
meaningful exercise resulting in a useful, quality product. The proper approvals must be
obtained before implementing any submitted project on a local, vicinage-wide or state-wide
level.
While successful candidates in the past have found the assistance of a local mentor group
helpful, seeking this assistance is voluntary and will provide no automatic final approval
advantage for a candidate who obtains that assistance.
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WHAT IS A MENTOR GROUP?
Mentor groups are comprised of Certified Municipal Court Administrators from a vicinage.
Mentor groups may also include the Municipal Division Manager or other municipal division
staff. The chair of the mentor group, elected from the membership of that group’s Certified
Municipal Court Administrators, facilitates the meetings. Working with a mentor group is not
required to complete the certification process. Any work of the mentor group is treated as
confidential. Any advice offered by the mentor group reflects the opinions of the individuals
serving in the group and not those of the Certification Board or the Judiciary.
The purpose of a mentor group is to assist candidates as they participate in the Phase III process.
WHAT MENTOR GROUPS MAY AND MAY NOT DO
• Mentor groups may listen and make suggestions.
• Mentor groups may explain common experiences with the certification process.
• Mentor groups may help candidates by discussing issues.
• Mentor groups may explain each step of the certification process to you.
• Mentor groups may assist you by proofreading your project or reviewing for an exam.
• Mentor groups may not tell you what topic you can pick.
• Mentor groups may not direct how you complete your project.
• Mentor groups may not approve or disapprove of project requests or projects.
• Mentor groups, including individual Division Managers or Municipal Division staff may
not send letters of endorsement for projects or project requests to the Certification
Board.
Mentor groups may also discuss projects (without reference to the identity of the candidate) that
have been approved or rejected by the Board as exemplars for certification candidates.
SELECTING A TOPIC - PROJECT REQUEST
In seeking a topic, each candidate should look for a situation that is likely to provide some
interesting insights into the improvement of a court, your vicinage or the municipal courts
statewide. One might ask a series of questions aimed at finding a topic including:
• What recent successes has your court (vicinage, etc.) had?
• What is the greatest challenge facing your court at the moment?
• What are some of the court’s goals for this year?
• What are some of the obstacles to meet these goals?
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• What are new problems not previously faced by your court? (i.e., security issues,
preparation for storms, facility renovations, hiring staff persons)
Think about these questions until you can identify situations appropriate for your study relating
to a court. There will probably be many. Preliminarily, it is a good idea to identify a few topics
so that you will be able to have several choices as you narrow your selection to complete your
outline and project request.
When formulating your outline and project request, consider the following four points that
should be satisfied when completing the written portion of your court improvement project:
a) The court improvement project will need to clearly describe and explain each aspect of
the topic;
b) The project will not explain everything there is to know about that topic;
c) If a topic is too narrow, it may not be possible to complete a substantial written project to
document your work; and
d) Topics that are too broad may result in unfocused, rambling projects.
When drafting your outline for submission of your project request, consider the following
sequence of steps generally necessary to complete any court improvement project:
1. Decide on a general goal, given your topic area. For example, if a topic area is to
address storm preparation, the general goal may be to enhance the preparedness of
your municipal court.
2. Describe the current practices of the court involving your topic area. What things
are currently in place? Why do they need improvement? What impacts the
current practices?
3. Select the specific objective of your topic area. For example, a specific goal may
be to enhance service to the public by setting up a phone message system and
radio station announcement for use when the court is unable to hold sessions due
to storms.
4. Describe your methodology – that is, – the procedures you will use to develop
what you need to meet your objective. Remember to include any approvals you
would need if implementing this project.
5. Describe the results of your study and the observations you have made.
6. Draw conclusions about your findings.
Compare the topics areas you have preliminarily selected to the six step sequence for a court
improvement project in light of the four points set forth above. Which topics are too broad,
which are too narrow? Which topics do you think you will have sufficient information to write
about? Once you have selected your topic, you should complete your project request.
It is advisable to avoid subject areas that are completed as part of Standards and Best Practices
because they are topics already on the Judiciary’s agenda for development. For example, a
project proposal to create a budget package would not be approved by the Board since a
standardized budget document was created and disseminated as part of the Best Practice process.
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Another example of this is the Visitation Report.
While joint projects by two or more persons are sometimes accepted by the Board,
candidates should be advised that these projects must reflect the efforts of the combined
work by clearly displaying a greater level of effort and depth of analysis. It is the
expectation of the Board that the candidate will rely on the base of knowledge derived by
his or her participation in Phase I.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PROJECT REQUEST
Each candidate should submit a project request with a cover letter to the Board. This cover letter
should not be produced on municipal court letterhead. It should be submitted on blank, white
paper. No endorsement letters of any kind should be attached. This is to avoid any
misunderstandings that your project request is approved. Only the Certification Board may
approve your project request. A typical project request is 1 to 2 pages long on plain, white
paper. Use of mentor group “forms” to submit project requests are not permitted.
The request should contain the project title, outline and narrative summary. In the outline,
describe your objective, why this court improvement project was undertaken, and your proposed
solution. In your narrative summary, explain the central concepts and the parts of the court
improvement project that will be fully explained in detail in your paper. The purpose of the
summary is to allow the reader to understand the major issues that will be addressed in the full
paper. The content of the summary follows the content of the paper. The request should be as
specific and descriptive as possible and demonstrate the effort that will be involved in
completing the project.
TIMEFRAME – DEADLINES
Each candidate is responsible for reviewing and strictly following the timeframes and
deadlines for submission of all project requests, correspondence and projects.
All project requests, correspondence and projects shall be submitted to the Board in care of
Board Secretary, Bob Helik at Municipal Court Administrators’ Certification Board,
Municipal Court Services Division, RJ Hughes Justice Complex, PO Box 986, Trenton, NJ
08625. The Certification Board meets quarterly, so any mail for the Board that a candidate
would like reviewed should be sent according to the following schedule.
Any mail for review at the first quarter meeting should be received at the AOC by the 15th day
of February.
Any mail for review at the second quarter meeting should be received at the AOC by the 15th day
of May.
Any mail for review at the third quarter meeting should be received at the AOC by the 15th day
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of August.
Any mail for review at the fourth quarter meeting should be received at the AOC by the 15th day
of November.
Requests for project extensions should be received in advance of the deadline date for the
project. The extension request should include the reason the extension is requested and the status
of the project. Any project request, project or correspondence that is not received by the
deadline date listed above will be held for presentation to the Board at the next quarterly
meeting.
FORMAT OF THE COURT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Each court improvement project should consist of the following elements:
• A title page (1 page)
• A copy of your project request that was submitted to the Certification Board (1
to 2 pages)
• A table of contents (1 page)
• Text pages of the court improvement project expand on the narrative summary
and provide in detail an analysis of how and why you conducted this
improvement project. It must include the facts and events of the situation and
topic area you studied. How did the situation or problem arise? What were the
important external and internal factors that influenced this situation? (3 to 5
pages)
• Conclusion – Your conclusions should detail what you have learned or studied to
explain the causes and effects or interpret the actions that achieved your objective.
One major purpose of a court improvement project is to give readers an
opportunity to benefit from the successes or failures of others. In your conclusion,
explain to the reader, what you have learned from this situation, what you would
do differently, and what you feel others should adopt for their courts. (1 to 2
pages)
• Reference List (citations and bibliography) - One of the most important aspects
of the court improvement project is the careful and clear documentation of source
material. Good documentation provides the evidence to support the statements in
the court improvement project and increases the reader’s trust in your work. (1 to
2 pages)
The average page lengths included with the elements listed above are minimum guidelines.
What is important is that your court improvement project reflect your creativity and the
considerable research, analysis and effort you have expended to complete this project.
On a general note, it is important that the facts in the court improvement project are
accurate. Be sure to check all cites used, including but not limited to, court rules, directives,
books, articles, websites and statutes to be sure both your text and reference lists reflect
correct cites and appropriate credit to cited material.
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It is important to both spell check and grammar check your document for accuracy.
Sentence construction should be clear and easily understood. If a mentor group is used, it
should be given to the mentor group for proofreading. If you are not using a mentor
group, be sure to have someone check your paper for spelling, grammar and citations.
PROJECT SUBMISSION
The final project should be submitted with a cover letter from the candidate to the Board. This
cover letter should not be produced on municipal court letterhead. The project should not be
accompanied by any endorsement letters. The submission should include seven “hard copies”
of the project, along with a copy on disk or CD-ROM.
If the project includes a videotape, seven copies of the tape should be provided. The hard copies
must be submitted in a format that can be reproduced by a photocopier. Items such as tabs and
artistic add-ons that do not appear on the CD-ROM should not be included on the hard copy.
Project submissions will be accepted in the following formats: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access
or html.
Final projects submitted without prior project request approval by the Board will NOT be
accepted or considered.
REVIEW OF THE COURT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT BY THE
CERTIFICATION BOARD
The Certification Board reviews projects submitted by certification candidates. Projects can be
approved, conditionally approved or rejected. A project that is conditionally approved may be
returned for additional information, a re-write of certain areas, or correction. A rejection of a
project may be made for inconsistencies with the Mission, Vision or Core Values of the
Judiciary. A rejection of the project may also be made if the project is different from the
approved project request. Letters of endorsement or statements of endorsement in the cover
letter will be ignored as part of the review process.
The Certification Board uses certain criteria to review projects. Please note that this list is not all
inclusive. The Certification Board reserves the right to add or amend criteria used at any time.
All decisions of the Certification Board are final.
Projects will generally be rejected if:
• The court improvement projects are submitted without an approved project request;
and/or
.
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• The writings are inconsistent with the Mission, Vision or Core Values of the Judiciary.
Projects will generally be conditionally approved and returned for amendment if:
• The citations and references are inaccurate or credit is not given to a published work;
• The grammar or sentence construction is incorrect or is difficult to understand;
• The project contains spelling errors; and/or
• The court improvement written project is submitted without all elements described in the
approved project proposal.
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