Procedural Fairness Resources from The National Center for State Courts

Court procedures are complicated. Attorneys and judges are specially trained in legal procedure and practice it every day. However, most people who appear in court have never done so before and are unfamiliar with the procedure. Many litigants, especially those without attorney representation (pro se litigants), feel as if the judicial system lacks transparency, accessibility, and clarity, and often perpetuates biases against racial and ethnic minorities and those with low income. Clerks, court staff, jurists, and judges must stay informed of these issues and find solutions to ensure fair and equal access to the judicial system to everyone. This concept is referred to as “procedural fairness” or “procedural justice.”

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Public Domain Day: Class of 2022!

Each New Year, a new batch of creative works enters the public domain as their copyright terms expire and they become free to use, reuse, and share. Public Domain Day is observed each January 1st to commemorate the works that enter the public domain. In 2022, thousands of works first published in 1926 became public domain, including A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, and Franz Kafka’s The Castle, as well as over 400,000 sound recordings from pre-1923.

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