Court Leader's Advantage

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has already brought us general business tools that courts can use to assist in automating work, analyzing documents, and conducting legal analysis. As a start, courts will need to put their information into an electronic format that can be used by A.I. tools. They will also need to re-engineer their business practices. Small courts will have to be assertive in making their needs known. But, exactly how will A.I. tools help courts and what will we, as citizens, give up in privacy in order to maximize A.I.’s potential? Alan Carlson along with co-host Rick Pierce discuss how A.I. will be used in the courts and how soon it will be here. 

About the Presenter

Alan Carlson retired at the end of 2016 after working 40 years in state trial courts. He was the CEO (court administrator, clerk of court, and jury commissioner) of the Orange County (CA) Superior Court, the CEO in San Francisco Superior Court, the Executive Officer of the Monterey Superior Court, and the Assistant Executive officer of the Alameda County Superior Court. Mr. Carlson also was president of JMI, Director of Court Services at the CA AOC, and a Staff Attorney at NCSC. Mr. Carlson received a Distinguished Service Award from the California Judicial Council in 2016, the NACM Award of Merit in 2012, and the ABA Robert B. Yegge Award in 2010. He was inducted as a member of the NCSC’s Warren Burger Society in 2012. He received a law degree from Hastings College of Law and a BS in engineering from University of California at Berkeley.

About the Co-Host

Rick Pierce, Judicial Programs Administrator, has served in the field of court administration for the past thirty years. Prior to his appointment at the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, Pierce was the district court administrator for the 9th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Cumberland County. As judicial programs administrator, he is responsible for implementation of programs and education in court administration at the general and limited jurisdiction court levels. Pierce was elected to the National Association for Court Management Board of Directors in July of 2017 and currently serves as a director and vice chair of the Governance Committee of NACM. Pierce served as the President of the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management from 2005-2006.He also served as President of the Pennsylvania Association of Court Management in 2000-2001. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Pierce received his Master’s in Public Administration from Shippensburg University in 1995.