about clct
General Description | Mission | Organization
Legal Status | Financing | Staffing | Overseas Affiliations
The Center for Legal and Court Technology [CLCT] is an entrepreneurial public service project. Launched formally in August of 1993 as the Courtroom Information Project, we are the world center for courtroom and related technology demonstration, experimentation, education, and training. Physically located in William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, CLCT is especially well known for the McGlothlin Courtroom, William & Mary’s state-of-the-art trial and appellate courtroom. Although CLCT had its origins in the courtroom, its current activities extend well beyond it.
CLCT's mission is to improve the world’s legal systems through the appropriate use of technology. The Project seeks to learn how technology can best assist the courts, lawyers, law firms, and government legal agencies in the pursuit of justice.
CLCT functions as part of William & Mary Law School. The Project Director is responsible for all aspects of the Center and has full supervisory authority over CLCT and its staff. The Director is appointed by and reports directly to the Dean of the Law School. He confers with the President and other members of the National Center for State Courts and seeks to support the mission of the National Center.
The Center for Legal and Court Technology is part of the College of William & Mary School of Law, a state university law school. As such, it is a state-owned nonprofit institution. It is not itself a 501(c)(3) or other independent entity. CLCT's status as a part of the School of Law at William & Mary may make donations in support of the Project tax deductible. We, however, express no legal opinion regarding the tax implications of such donations, and potential donors are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
Contrary to popular belief, CLCT is generally financially self-supported. We primarily support ourselves through Court Affiliate dues, grants, consulting services, income derived from its educational and training activities, and donations.
The Law School provides a small annual sum for administrative and operational support and provides valuable in-kind support consisting especially of office space, graduate fellowships, and other forms of student support. At present, the National Center for State Courts helps support the Project’s Assistant Director for Privacy and Technology, a joint staff position.
The United States Congress has appropriated approximately $500,000 per year in fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006 for the support of the Courtroom 21 Project. This support has permitted the Project to continue to expand its public service activities. Funds are allocated in the form of grants from the Department of Justice.
VI. Staffing (Permanent Personnel | Student Personnel | Pro Bono Volunteers)
CLCT’s staff is well-known for its competence and ability to accomplish goals quickly and effectively. The staff consists of permanent members, student members, and volunteers who do not generally work from our offices. At present, the Center has approximately 40 members in total, including lawyers and judges, courtroom designers, information technologists, courtroom technology experts, engineers, alternative dispute experts, administrators, accountants, marketing and communications experts, facilities specialists, and cabinetmakers. Four of the permanent staff are lawyers, of whom all are also either tenured or adjunct law professors.
As of August 1, 2007, the Project has fourteen authorized permanent staff positions. Of these, four are part-time positions. A fifteenth position, that of the Project’s Master Cabinetmaker, is a William & Mary position, and the Project pays the College for that expert’s services on an hourly basis. The Center’s Court Record Manager is supported primarily by a major grant from the National Court Reporters Foundation with additional support from the National Verbatim Reporters Association and the Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers.
Student staff can be CLCT Fellows (supported directly by CLCT, usually by donations from supporters); “dedicated” Graduate Research Fellows (“GFs”); “shared” GFs; hourly staff; and volunteers. GFs are out-of-state law students who receive in-state tuition and a stipend from the School. Dedicated GFs work only for CLCT and provide an average of eight (for first-year students) to ten hours a week. Shared GFs customarily are first-year students who also work for the Law Library and provide four hours a week to the Center. Many of the student staff are professionals with extensive prior experience in their specialties.
Especially notable among the Center ’s volunteers are its pro bono Senior Advisors. At present, the active Senior Advisors are: the Senior Legal Advisor (Richard Herrmann, Esq.); Senior Judicial Advisor (The Honorable Herbert Dixon); the Senior Advisor for Electronic Discovery (Mollie Nichols, Esq.); the Senior Facilities Advisor (Jerry Thacker, former Assistant Director for Facilities of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts).
CLCT is affiliated with The Queensland Institute of Technology School of Law in Australia and with the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. The Center also has an informal relationship with the University of Canberra’s Courtroom of the Future Project. CLCT is seeking to expand its formal relations to other nations.