NCSC reaches wider audience as media coverage of Center’s data, experts grows

NCSC reaches wider audience as media coverage of Center’s data, experts grows

March 15, 2023 --As NCSC has grown in recent months and years, so too has media interest in the work being done by the Center’s array of subject matter experts. The Center’s work is now routinely covered widely by the legal media, with Bloomberg Law, Law.com, and Law360.com all having cited studies, experts, or data from NCSC in recent days and weeks.

But it’s not just legal media that is interested in the Center’s work. The Boston Globe recently referenced NCSC when Massachusetts Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd called for greater civil legal aid funding. And a recent Washington Post story on the underrepresentation of minorities on juries in federal courts in the nation’s capital cited NCSC’s research, too.

“Our objective is to translate our vast body of knowledge about the courts into impactful stories,” said Molly Justice, NCSC director of communications and online media. “We are seeing significantly greater media interest in our work in recent months and years as we aim to convert our research and expertise into improvements in the administration of justice across the country.”

NCSC staff are also regular contributors to thought-leadership publications like Judicature published by Duke University Law School. In the fall, NCSC’s director of racial justice, equity and inclusion, Edwin Bell, published a piece on the work of NCSC’s Blueprint for Racial Justice.

“Public trust and confidence in the courts may improve when court users see that judges and staff reflect the communities in which they serve,” Bell noted.

In January, NCSC experts Zach Zarnow and Lindsay Hafford sat down for an interview with the Thomson Reuters Instituteto discuss how courts are adapting to technology challenges in a post-pandemic world.

Of course, many legal issues—whether related to the law or judicial administration—can be extremely complex and nuanced, making reporting challenging. That’s why the Center is a long-standing supporter of  Loyola Marymount University’s Journalist Law School, an annual four-day intensive seminar on the legal system at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. The program was established in 2006 to help journalists navigate the complexities of the legal system and enhance their coverage of it.

“Journalists provide the keys to understanding the most complex institutions in our society, including the courts,” said Professor John Nockleby, the founder of the program and an NCSC board member. “If journalists have a deeper understanding of law and the legal system, they can help the public better understand— and critique—that system.”