Court Initiatives Earn Pennsylvania a Prestigious National Award

We're proud to practice in Pennsylvania's courts, and we're delighted to see Pennsylvania's Court Administrator Zygmont Pines win the prestigious 2010 Warren E. Burger Award for Excellence in Court Administration—the highest award presented by the National Center for State Courts.

The Burger Award is named for the former chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the improvement of court operations with application to courts nationwide.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille in a January 3 press release praised Pines' leadership in “introducing numerous cost-effective solutions to problems facing the Commonwealth's 67 trial courts and more than 500 district courts.” Recent initiatives include:

• The installation of more than 300 video conferencing units in courts, which not only strengthens court security, but has the potential to save counties millions of dollars in prisoner transportation costs — as much as $25,000 on average per video conference site.
• One of the most sophisticated judicial computer systems in the country, “which enables us to provide continually greater access and accountability to the public,” Pines said in the press release.
• Problem-solving courts; to date, Pennsylvania has created nearly 80 problem-solving courts, such as veterans and drug courts.
• The development of a Web-based portal, making criminal court docket sheets available on the Internet at no charge, eliminating an untold amount of travel time to courthouses for paper copies of docket sheets and for court staff to make them.
• The enhancement of electronic filing of traffic citations and criminal complaints, saving police and courts both time and money.
• The implementation of technology and automation to improve court collections and payment processing.

Once again, we applaud the efforts of Zygmont Pines and other court officials to improve the administration of justice in Pennsylvania.