For over 20 years, I’ve participated in planning sessions with government agencies (mostly court planning) as an analyst and facilitator. While each session has involved challenging issues, I can honestly say that each session has been a success. Part of this is due to the core planning team's...

Court planning firms and architectural firms have unique and sometimes overlapping skill sets. If your courthouse is out of space, suffers from deteriorating building conditions, lacks modern-day security features, fails to meet your court’s operational needs, or has suffered damage due to external...

Courts do not generate their own workload - they respond to other organizations and the public. For example, on the criminal side, a court is a "downstream" organization, meaning it must respond to the initiatives of prosecutors and law enforcement. On the civil side, courts are responsive to the...

The use of collegial judges’ chambers is a developing trend in courthouse design. A collegial chambers arrangement is where two or more judges’ chambers suites are grouped together, apart from the courtrooms, instead of the traditional arrangement with a judge’s chambers suite being adjacent to his...

In my role as a court planner, I have traveled across the country to dozens of courts to learn about trends that are impacting court workload. During the past several years, it has struck me that many courts are handling a growing number of defendants who are battling mental health issues. This...