The North Carolina Judicial System
2008 edition
The North Carolina Judicial System
2008 edition
e cover photo is of the North Carolina Justice Building
in downtown Raleigh.
© 2008 | www.nccourts.org
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
3 Court Divisions
3 e Appellate Division
5 e Superior Court Division
8 e District Court Division
8 District Court
8 Magistrates’ Courts
9 Jurisdiction
9 Trial Jurisdiction – Civil
10 Small Claims
10 Trial Jurisdiction – Criminal
12 Trial Jurisdiction – Juvenile
13 Trial Jurisdiction – Innovative Courts
14 Family Court
14 Drug Treatment Court
15 Business Court
16 Appellate Jurisdiction – Court of Appeals
16 Appellate Jurisdiction – Supreme Court
17 Alternative Dispute Resolution
17 Mediation
18 Arbitration
20 Court Personnel
20 Justices and Judges
22 Magistrates
23 Clerks of Superior Court
24 District Attorneys
25 Public Defenders
26 Judicial Support Sta
26 Guardian ad Litem
27 Court Reporters
28 Juries
28 Jury Service
29 Trial Juries
29 e Grand Jury
30 Education and Training of Court Personnel
30 e Administrative Oce of the Courts
31 School of Government
continued on next page
Table of Contents, continued
32 Court Administration
32 Administrative Oce of the Courts
33 Financial Support of the Courts
35 Public Records and the Courts
35 Representation of Indigents
36 Oce of Indigent Defense Services
36 Appellate Defender
37 Capital Defender
37 Juvenile Defender
37 Sentencing Services
38 Related Agencies – In the Judicial Department
38 Judicial Council
39 Judicial Standards Commission
39 Conference of Clerks of Superior Court
40 Conference of District Attorneys
40 Oce of Indigent Defense Services
40 Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission
41 Innocence Inquiry Commission
42 Dispute Resolution Commission
42 Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism
43 Related Agencies – Outside the Judicial Department
43 Legislative Branch
43 North Carolina General Assembly
44 Courts Commission
44 Executive Branch
45 Department of Justice
45 Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
46 Department of Correction
46 Governor’s Crime Commission
47 North Carolina State Bar
48 Private Organizations
48 Private Associations of Court Personnel
48 Private Associations of Attorneys
50 Judicial Department Data Fiscal Year 2006-2007
52 Endnotes
Introduction
Under the North Carolina Constitution, the Judicial Department is established as a
co-equal branch of state government with the Legislative and Executive branches. North
Carolina’s court system, called the General Court of Justice, is a unied statewide and
state-operated system.
Before 1966, North Carolina operated under a hybrid court system with a supreme
court (the appellate court) and a superior court (general jurisdiction trial court),
funded by the State and uniform statewide. However, lower courts were operated and
funded by cities and counties, and jurisdiction of those courts varied. In one county a
municipal court might handle certain types of cases,
while in another county a dierent court would
handle the same matters. At one time North Carolina
had 256 various lower courts. Clerks of superior
court and justices of the peace worked on a fee basis;
for example, a justice of the peace received a fee upon
nding a defendant guilty, but no fee if the defendant
was found not guilty. at procedure alone caused much
consternation about the judicial system because the court
ocial could be biased if presented with a nancial
interest in the outcome of a proceeding before him.
e North Carolina Bar Association appointed a
committee to study the court system in 1955. e
committee, named the Committee on Improving
and Expediting the Administration of Justice in North
Carolina, was known as the “Bell Commission,” because
its chairman was J. Spencer Bell, an attorney from
Charlotte.
The North Carolina Judicial System | 1
Under the North Carolina
Constitution, the Judicial
Department is established
as a co-equal branch of state
goernment with the
legislative and executive
branches. North Carolina’s
court system, called the
General Court of Justice,
is a unied statewide and
state-operated system.
Aer a thorough study, the Bell Commission in 1958 recommended a complete
restructuring of the judicial system.
1
In 1962, the voters of North Carolina approved a
constitutional amendment creating North Carolina’s present court system under Article
IV of the present constitution. Legislation was passed in 1965 to reorganize the court
system according to the new Article IV, and the system began operation in 1966.
Jurisdiction of the courts of North Carolina is now uniform throughout the state. At the
trial level, original jurisdiction over misdemeanors, minor civil cases, juvenile matters and
domestic relations was taken from the superior court and given to the district court, and
the many city and county courts were replaced by a uniform district court system. e
justices of the peace and mayors’ courts were replaced by magistrates, who operate within
the district court division. On the appellate level, an intermediate appellate court – the
Court of Appeals – was created in 1967 to relieve the heavy caseload of the Supreme
Court.
Among the signicant changes brought about by this uniform judicial system was the
centralization of administration and budgeting. All court personnel are paid by the
State, rather than being paid based on the number or outcome of cases before them. e
Administrative Oce of the Courts, under a director appointed by the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court, is responsible for developing a single budget for the entire judicial
system.
is guide contains some legal terms or phrases that are not common in regular English use.
A glossary of equently-used legal terms can be found on the North Carolina Judicial
Department’s website: www.nccourts.org/Citizens/Publications/LegalTerms.asp.
2 | The North Carolina Judicial System
INTRODUCTION
The North Carolina Judicial System | 3
Court Divisions
e General Court of Justice consists of three divisions: the appellate division, the
superior court division and the district court division.
e Appellate Division
www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate
e appellate division comprises the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. Except
in very limited circumstances, a party dissatised with the results in the trial divisions has
a right to have that result reviewed by one of these courts, and in some cases by both.
e Supreme Court is the state’s highest court. is court has a Chief Justice and six
associate justices, who sit as a body and decide cases appealed from lower courts, including
from the Court of Appeals. e Supreme Court has no jury, and it makes no
determinations of fact; rather, it considers only questions of law, which means resolving a
party’s claim that there were errors in legal procedures or in judicial interpretation of the
law in the trial court or the Court of Appeals. Its decisions are printed and distributed
in the bound North Carolina Reports and are accessible on the Judicial Department’s
website: www.nccourts.org.
2
e Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that was created to relieve
the Supreme Court of a portion of its heavy caseload. It has een judges, who
sit in panels of three to hear cases. One of the judges is the Chief Judge of the
Court of Appeals, appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Most of
the court’s sessions are held in Raleigh, but individual panels sometimes meet in
other locations throughout the state. Like the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals
COURT DIVISIONS
4 | The North Carolina Judicial System
Supreme Court
7 Justices
Court of Appeals
15 Judges
District Courts
256 Judges
Magistrates
724
Decisions of Industrial
Commission, State Bar,
Property Ta x Commission,
Commissioner of Insurance,
Dept. of Health and Human
Services, Secretary of of
Environment and Natural
Resources, and the Utilities
Commission (in cases other
than general rate cases)
Final Orders of Utilities
Commission in General
Rate Cases
Original Jurisdiction: Accept
certain misdemeanor guilty
pleas and admissions of
responsibility to infractions;
worthless check misdemeanors
$2,000 or less; small claims
$5,000 or less; valuation of
property in certain estate cases
Recommendations from
Judicial Standards Commission
Original Jurisdiction: All
felony cases, civil cases in
excess of $10,000*
Decisions of Most
Administrative Agencies
Original Jurisdiction: Probate
and estates, special proceedings
(condemnations, adoptions,
partitions, foreclosures, etc.);
in certain cases, may accept
guilty pleas or admissions of
responsibility and enter judgment
Judicial Department through these divisions:
Court Programs, Court Services, Financial
Services, Guardian ad Litem, Human
Resources, Legal and Legislative Services,
Purchasing, Research and Planning,
Te chnology Services
Appeals from the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court are by right in
cases involving constitutional questions, and cases in which there has been
dissent in the Court of Appeals. In its discretion, the Supreme Court may
Appeals from these agencies go directly to the Court of Appeals.
capital murder cases in which the defendant has been sentenced to death,
and in Utilities Commission general rate cases. In all other cases appeal as
of right is to the Court of Appeals. In its discretion, the Supreme Court
delay would cause substantial harm, or when the Court of Appeals docket is
unusually full.
Criminal cases proceed to the superior court for trial de novo. Civil and
juvenile cases proceed to the Court of Appeals.
Court Organizational Structure and Routes of Appeal
As of June 30, 2008
Original Jurisdiction:
Misdemeanor cases not
assigned to magistrates;
probable cause hearings;
accept guilty / no contest pleas
in certain felony cases; civil
cases $10,000* or less; juvenile
proceedings; domestic
relations; mental health
hospital commitments
3
3
1
2
1
2
*
original jurisdiction in civil actions
(G.S. 7A -240). However, the district court
division is the proper division for the trial of civil
actions in which the amount in controversy is
$10,000 or less; and the superior court division
is the proper division for the trial of civil actions
in which the amount in controversy exceeds
$10,000 (G.S. 7A -243).
Administrative
395
Superior Courts
109 Judges
Clerks of
Superior Court
100
Clerk Personnel
2,390
4
4
4
3
decides only questions of law. Its decisions are printed in the bound North Carolina
Court of Appeals Reports and on the internet at the same site as opinions of the
Supreme Court.
e Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are located in downtown Raleigh. Each
court has a clerk, who is the court’s administrative ocer. Each justice or judge has
research assistants who must be law school graduates.
e Superior Court Division
www.nccourts.org/Courts/Trial/Superior
Unlike the appellate division that decides only questions of law when a party appeals
a case, the Superior and District Court divisions are the trial court divisions that hold
trials to determine the facts of cases. e superior court division consists of the superior
court, which is the court with general trial jurisdiction. is court “sits” (holds court) at
least twice a year in each county of the state. In the busiest counties, several sessions may
be held concurrently each week.
e State is divided into superior court districts for both electoral and
administrative purposes. Where the superior court district is composed of less than
a full county for electoral purposes, several
electoral districts become one district for
administrative purposes. For example, Wake County
has four superior court electoral districts – 10A, 10B,
10C and 10D – each of which has a separate election
for the judge(s) from that district, but all are
joined together for administrative purposes as the
10th District. Each administrative superior court
district has a senior resident superior court judge who
manages the administrative duties of the court.
e superior court sits only in the county
seat of each county, except for Guilford County
where the court sits in Greensboro (the county seat)
COURT DIVISIONS
The North Carolina Judicial System | 5
Unlike the appellate division
that decides only questions of
law when a party appeals a
case, the Superior and District
Court divisions are the trial
court divisions that hold trials
to determine the facts of cases.
COURT DIVISIONS
6 | The North Carolina Judicial System
North Carolina Superior Court
Effective June 30, 2008
Note: Districts that have more than one letter associated with
the district number (i.e., 10A, B, C, D) are divided into separate
districts for electoral purposes. For administrative purposes, they
are combined into a single district.
Copyright © 2008
School of Government
e University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The North Carolina Judicial System | 7
COURT DIVISIONS
North Carolina District Court Districts
Effective June 30, 2008
Note: Districts 9 and 9B, and districts 20B and 20C are
districts for electoral purposes only. ey are combined for
administrative purposes.
Copyright © 2008
School of Government
e University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
8 | The North Carolina Judicial System
and High Point.
3
e superior court districts are further grouped into eight
divisions, and the State’s constitution requires superior court judges to rotate, or
“ride the circuit,” from one district to another in their divisions. Judges are assigned to a
judicial district for a six-month period and then rotated to another district for the same
time period. e map on page 6 shows the superior court districts and divisions.
e District Court Division
www.nccourts.org/Courts/Trial/District
District Court
Like the superior court division, the state is divided into district court districts for electoral
purposes and administrative purposes. e map on page 7 shows the district court judicial
districts. Also like the superior court, the district court sits in the county seat of each
county. It may sit in certain other cities and towns if authorized by the General Assembly.
Most counties have only one seat of court, but a few counties have several. Unlike the
superior court, the district court districts are not grouped into larger judicial divisions.
Each administrative district court district has a chief district court judge who manages
the administrative duties of the court.
Magistrates’ Courts
Magistrates hold court in both civil and criminal matters as ocers of the district
court under the supervisory authority of the chief district court judge (see “Justices
and Judges” under the Court Personnel section in this guide). Magistrates do
not preside over a separate trial division of the General Court of Justice, so
technically there is no such court as “magistrate’s court.” In the civil context, magistrates
generally are assigned by the chief district court judge to preside over “small claims”
court (see “Jurisdiction,” in the following section). For criminal matters, magistrates
conduct certain preliminary proceedings and are authorized to dispose of some cases by
pleas of guilty or by trial.
COURT DIVISIONS
Jurisdiction
“Jurisdiction” means the authority of a court to hear and decide a case.
4
A court’s jurisdiction
depends on both geography and the subject matter of the case. e geographic jurisdiction
of the General Court of Justice generally is limited to cases arising from events that happen
within North Carolina or cases concerning a person’s or company’s property or business
interests in North Carolina.
A specic court’s jurisdiction over subject matter varies, depending on factors such as
whether the case is civil or criminal, how much money or what kind of crime is involved,
and whether the proceeding is a trial or an appeal from another court’s judgment. A
more thorough discussion of the subject matter jurisdiction of North Carolina’s courts is
provided in the following text.
Trial Jurisdiction – Civil
e civil jurisdiction of the trial court divisions – the
superior court and district court – is concurrent. is
means that for most civil cases, the case can be led in
either court, but there is a “proper” division where a case
should be led and heard. If a case is led and heard in
the improper division, the case oen will be transferred
to the proper division, but if a case proceeds all the way
to judgment in the improper division, the judgment is
not void or “thrown out” solely because it was heard in
the wrong court.
The North Carolina Judicial System | 9
Cases within the proper
jurisdiction of the
superior courts are cases
inoling $10,000 or more
and cases in a few special
categories. Cases within the
proper jurisdiction of the
district courts are those
inoling less than $10,000
and domestic cases.
Cases within the proper jurisdiction of the superior courts are cases involving
$10,000 or more and cases in a few special categories such as injunctions to compel or
prevent enforcement of a particular law by the government, constitutional issues,
eminent domain actions, corporate receiverships and review of the rulings of certain
administrative agencies. Cases within the proper jurisdiction of the district courts are
those involving less than $10,000 and domestic cases (issues of family law like divorce
and child custody).
e exceptions to the general rule of proper jurisdiction are cases in the “exclusive”
jurisdiction of one court or the other, meaning that only that court can hear
and render a judgment in them. Cases in the exclusive jurisdiction of the
superior court include probate (of wills) and the administration of estates of
deceased persons (with the clerks of superior court as the initial judges of
probate). e district court has exclusive jurisdiction over cases of juvenile law, as
described later in this section.
Small Claims
Some cases in the district court’s proper jurisdiction go to “small claims” court,
normally heard by a magistrate. Small claims include claims for less than $5,000, recovery of
personal property, summary ejectment (ejecting a tenant
from a landlord’s property), and cases to enforce liens
led by mechanics for service and storage of motor
vehicles. e chief district court judge may assign any
case to trial before a magistrate if it meets the small
claims criteria, and in most counties the judge enters a
general order that all such cases are to be heard in small
claims court.
Trial Jurisdiction – Criminal
e criminal jurisdiction of the trial courts depends on
the type of oense charged, but ultimately all crimes are
10 | The North Carolina Judicial System
JURISDICTION
Small claims include claims
for less than $5,000, recoery
of personal property, summary
ejectment, and cases to enforce
liens led by mechanics for
service and storage of motor
vehicles.
within the jurisdiction of the superior court.
With a few exceptions, the superior court has exclusive
jurisdiction over all felonies. All felony trials in which
the defendant pleads not guilty must be tried before
a jury; the state constitution does not allow a judge
to decide whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty
of a felony (called a “bench trial,” in which the judge
decides the verdict instead of a jury). e district court has
jurisdiction over a felony to conduct a preliminary
hearing to determine whether or not there is probable
cause to believe that the defendant committed the oense.
If so, the district court orders that the defendant stand
trial in superior court and the case is transferred there.
With the consent of the district attorney and
the defendant, the district court also may take guilty pleas
to certain less serious felonies, but the district court in
those cases operates as if the plea was entered in superior
court and must follow the superior court’s procedures.
For misdemeanor cases, the district court has exclusive
“original” jurisdiction, which means that all
misdemeanor crimes are tried initially in district court
(unless the misdemeanor was committed as part of
the same act as a felony, in which case both are tried
together in superior court). A criminal trial in district
court is always a “bench trial.” However, because the
Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
guarantees a person charged with a crime the right to be
tried by a jury, a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor in
district court has the right to appeal his conviction to the
superior court for a new trial (also called a trial “de novo,”
which is Latin for “anew”)
5
, in which the trial must be
before a jury. If a defendant pleads guilty to a low-level
felony in district court and appeals the judgment, there is
no new trial in superior court. Because the plea is treated as
if it had been done in superior court, any appeal from the
JURISDICTION
The North Carolina Judicial System | 11
Magistrates generally are the
rst judicial ocials inoled
in criminal cases, because they
usually issue the criminal
process (e.g., a warrant for
arrest) that begins most
criminal cases. Magistrates
also generally set the initial
conditions for pretrial release
(bail) for persons who have
been arrested. ey also may
accept waivers of trial and
pleas of guilt or responsibility
for minor misdeameanors and
inactions.
With a few exceptions, the
superior court has exclusive
jurisdiction over all felonies.
e district court has exclusive
“original” jurisdiction over
misdemeanors and
inactions.
judgment goes to the appellate division.
In addition to misdemeanors, the district court has original jurisdiction over
infractions. An infraction is not a criminal oense and may be punished only by
a ne. A person charged with an infraction initially appears before the district
court, but if the person is found responsible for committing the infraction he may
appeal to the superior court for a new hearing. Unlike felonies and misdemeanors,
a person found responsible for an infraction cannot be sent to jail or prison for the
infraction, so the state constitution’s requirement that a jury decide criminal cases
does not apply. A person who appeals a district court nding of responsibility for an
infraction, therefore, can have a bench trial in superior court.
As ocers of the district court, magistrates generally are the rst judicial ocials involved
in criminal cases, because they usually issue the criminal process (e.g., a warrant for arrest)
that begins most criminal cases. e magistrate also generally sets the initial conditions for
pretrial release (bail) for persons who have been arrested. In disposing of criminal cases,
magistrates have jurisdiction to accept waivers of trial and guilty pleas to certain minor
misdemeanors and pleas of responsibility to infractions. If specically authorized by
the chief district court judge, a magistrate also may try cases and enter judgment for
defendants who plead not guilty to charges of writing worthless checks.
e minor misdemeanors and infractions for which magistrates may accept waivers of
trial and pleas of guilt or responsibility generally are trac, wildlife, boating, marine
sheries, state park recreation and alcoholic beverage oenses. e ne for each oense
for which the magistrate can accept a plea of guilty is set by uniform statewide schedules
(called the “waiver lists”), which are developed by the chief district court judges at their
annual conference.
Trial Jurisdiction – Juvenile
e district court has exclusive, original jurisdiction over
all juvenile cases. ese cases concern children under the
age of sixteen who are accused of being “delinquent” and
children under the age of eighteen who are
“undisciplined,” “abused,” “neglected” or “dependent.”
All records of juvenile proceedings are condential and
not open to the public.
12 | The North Carolina Judicial System
JURISDICTION
e district court has exclusive,
original jurisdiction over all
juvenile cases.
A juvenile case alleging that the child is delinquent or undisciplined is not a
criminal proceeding, and a juvenile found delinquent does not acquire a criminal
record as a result. A nding of delinquency may result in detention of the juvenile, but only
in state facilities reserved for juveniles; a delinquent juvenile is not housed in an adult
prison. However, a juvenile charged with committing a felony aer his or her thirteenth
birthday may be transferred to superior court for trial as an adult, and any sentence
entered aer a conviction in superior court is the same as an adult would receive, except
that a person may not be sentenced to death for a crime committed before the age of
18.
A juvenile who is alleged to be abused, neglected or dependent is not accused of an
oense. Instead, the court must determine whether the juvenile or his family
needs the assistance of the state or if removal of the juvenile from the custody of his
parent or custodian is necessary for the juvenile’s own protection and safety. e
court must appoint a person called a guardian ad litem (not necessarily a lawyer) to
represent the best interests of the juvenile in a proceeding
alleging abuse or neglect of the juvenile, and the court may
appoint a guardian ad litem for dependency cases. See the
section titled “Guardian ad Litem” later in this guide, for
more information.
Trial Jurisdiction – Innovative Courts
Within the normal jurisdiction of the district and superior
courts, North Carolina has developed several innovative
courts with jurisdiction over certain types of cases. ese
innovative courts deal with cases for which the traditional,
adversarial justice system is not always appropriate, or
for which the complexity of the cases requires the special
attention of a single judge.
The North Carolina Judicial System | 13
JURISDICTION
North Carolina has several
innoative courts with
jurisdiction over certain types
of cases, such as those for which
the traditional, adversarial
justice system is not always
appropriate, or for which the
complexity of the cases requires
the special attention of a single
judge. ese innoative courts
are the family, drug treatment
and business courts.
Family Court
www.nccourts.org/Citizens/CPrograms/Family
Family courts are district court sessions set up to deal with a particular family’s
multiple legal issues, such as divorce, child custody and abuse. Traditionally the court
has dealt with each family issue as a separate, individual case before whichever judge was
assigned to hold court on the date of a particular hearing. Family court assigns each
family to one judge who will be able to gain an understanding of the needs of the family
and see the family’s entire situation. e court also encourages families to resolve
conicts through mediation and will see that services are provided at an earlier stage of
the proceedings. Intensive case management services are provided to make sure that cases
move through the system as quickly as possible and to coordinate available court and
community resources needed by a particular family.
Drug Treatment Court
www.nccourts.org/Citizens/CPrograms/DTC
Drug treatment court was created to deal with the serious eect of substance abuse on
repetitive criminal behavior. Rather than only punishing a defendant for criminal acts,
this court provides intensive treatment and case tracking services in order to reduce
defendants’ substance abuse dependence and recidivism.
To be eligible for the treatment court, a defendant must be diagnosed as chemically
dependent, sentenced to an intermediate punishment (a very restrictive type of probation)
for his or her oense, or sentenced to a community punishment (i.e., regular probation)
and at risk of revocation of his or her probation. Most participants are multiple
oenders for whom other programs have been unsuccessful. In drug treatment
courts, the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, probation ocer, community policing
ocer, treatment provider and case manager work together in an ongoing,
non-adversarial fashion to make sure that defendants in the program are given
appropriate treatment, but also to hold defendants accountable for their behavior.
Defendants must participate in intensive treatment, followed by therapy for at least
one year. Each participant must undergo drug tests, be employed or attend school, and
attend frequent court hearings.
14 | The North Carolina Judicial System
JURISDICTION
ere are also juvenile drug treatment courts for nonviolent juvenile oenders whose
drug or alcohol abuse is aecting their lives, family drug treatment courts that work with
drug-abusing parents in danger of losing custody of their children due to charges of abuse
or neglect and a drug court in one district specically for alcohol-dependent defendants
charged with oenses of driving while impaired (DWI).
Business Court
www.ncbusinesscourt.net
e business court is a superior court of special jurisdiction. As a result of a 1995
recommendation by the North Carolina Commission on Business Laws and the
Economy, the North Carolina Supreme Court created the business court, in which a
designated special superior court judge hears “complex business cases.” e business
court is patterned aer a similar system in Delaware. e Chief Justice may designate
a case for assignment to the business court, which can result from the recommendation
of a senior resident superior court judge, chief district court judge or presiding superior
court judge.
Reasons that a case might be designated a complex business case include factors like a large
number of parties with diverse interests or the involvement of complex legal issues. e
designation of a case as a complex business case means that it is assigned to a special
superior court judge designated to preside over such cases. at judge generally presides
over the entire case from the pretrial matters through the trial. is is dierent from the
normal superior court procedure, in which dierent stages of a case could be heard by
multiple judges before the case ends, depending on which judge is assigned under the
rotation system to hold court in the weeks when the case is scheduled for hearings or
for trial. Specialization in business court cases allows the business court judge to develop
expertise in both the substantive business law and the case management issues that arise
in complex business cases. at increased level of expertise leads to greater eciency and
predictability. Currently, the business court sits in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh.
The North Carolina Judicial System | 15
JURISDICTION
Appellate Jurisdiction – Court of Appeals
www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate/Appeal
A party dissatised with the result of a case in the trial division generally has a right to
have that result reviewed by the appellate division. With a few exceptions, most appeals
from decisions of the trial division go rst to the Court of Appeals. One exception to
this rule is an appeal of a conviction for a misdemeanor or infraction in District Court,
for which the appeal is rst to superior court for a trial de novo; if the defendant is again
convicted in superior court, then his appeal goes to the appellate division. e Court of
Appeals also hears appeals from administrative agencies of the state, such as a decision by
the State Bar to punish an attorney for misconduct or decisions of the Industrial
Commission to award or deny worker’s compensation to an injured or disabled worker.
Appellate Jurisdiction – Supreme Court
www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate/Supreme
e Supreme Court is the State’s highest court, and hears appeals of the decisions from
the other divisions of the General Court of Justice as well as appeals of the decisions of
some other state agencies.
Most of the Supreme Court’s cases come from the Court of Appeals. Because the judges
of the Court of Appeals sit in panels of three judges for each case, one judge might
disagree with the others about the outcome of the case; this is called a “dissent” by the
judge who disagrees. If there is a dissent in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, or if the
case involves an important question about the constitutions of North Carolina or the
United States, then the party who disagrees with the Court of Appeals has a right to have
the Supreme Court review the case. Even if there was a unanimous decision in the Court
of Appeals, a party can petition the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of that decision,
but the court does not have to accept the case.
Some cases go directly to the Supreme Court without passing through the Court of
Appeals. A defendant sentenced to death for a conviction of rst-degree murder may
JURISDICTION
16 | The North Carolina Judicial System
JURISDICTION
appeal his conviction or sentence directly to the Supreme Court. e court also hears
direct appeals from decisions about utilities rates (prices) from the state Utilities
Commission. Finally, in certain cases, the Supreme Court can order that a case bypass
the Court of Appeals and be heard directly by the Supreme Court. ese cases generally
involve legal questions that are important to the public or for which the delay of rst
hearing the case in the Court of Appeals would result in substantial harm to a party or
their interests.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
In recent years, North Carolina has experimented with resolving disputes by methods
other than litigation. e North Carolina Bar Association has worked closely with the
Administrative Oce of the Courts in supporting these eorts to experiment with
alternative methods of dispute resolution.
Mediation
One basic alternative to court litigation is mediation, a process where an impartial
third party, called a mediator, referees negotiations between the parties and suggests
possible solutions. e parties themselves actually reach an agreement as to
how to resolve their dispute. Mediation is voluntary, and
the parties are not required to reach an agreement.
North Carolina has an extensive private mediation program
that operates independently of the court system. Dispute
settlement centers around the state rely on trained
volunteers to serve as mediators. Although many of the
centers’ cases are generated privately, they also recieve
referrals from the district court on minor criminal
matters in which mediation between the oender
and victim might resolve the matter. Some centers
The North Carolina Judicial System | 17
In recent years, North
Carolina has experimented
with resoling disputes by
methods other than litigation,
such as mediation and
arbitration.
18 | The North Carolina Judicial System
mediate worthless check cases, and others conduct mediation programs in
public schools. North Carolina also operates court mediation programs.
In 1991 the General Assembly authorized a pilot program for medi-
ated settlement conferences in superior court cases; today the program is
available in all counties. e program requires superior court litigants and their
attorneys to participate in a settlement conference with a mediator that is paid for by the
parties before their case can be tried in court. In 1995, the General Assembly created the
Dispute Resolution Commission (see page 42) to administer mediator certication and
regulate mediator conduct.
Mediation also is used in family law cases in the district court. Mediation of child
custody and visitation disputes, rst begun experimentally in Mecklenburg County,
has been implemented in all counties. Mediation is viewed as more desirable than
traditional litigation in custody disputes because, unlike contract or tort cases where the
parties have no contact aer litigation, parents need to cooperate for years in making
decisions about their children. e “win-lose” approach of the adversarial system oen
complicates that future relationship and does not promote the best interests of the
child. Mediators for the child custody cases are not attorneys, but must be trained as
mediators and have certain other qualications related to family dynamics and child
development. Similar to the custody mediation program, the Family Financial
Settlement Program provides mediated settlement opportunities for equitable
distribution, alimony and child support cases. In 2003, the General Assembly enacted
a collaborative law settlement procedure for all family law issues except absolute divorce.
e procedure allows a husband and wife and their attorneys to agree in writing to
“collaborate” (i.e., cooperate) in an attempt to resolve domestic actions like alimony or
child custody and support without using the courts.
Arbitration
Another method of alternative dispute resolution used in North Carolina is court-ordered
arbitration. Arbitration is submission of a dispute to a third party who renders a decision
aer hearing arguments and reviewing evidence. Arbitration is generally less formal
and less time consuming than litigation. Unlike mediation, the arbitrator actually
JURISDICTION
decides the outcome of the case rather than just helping the parties to negotiate.
e rst court-ordered alternative dispute resolution program enacted in North
Carolina was mandatory, nonbinding arbitration of civil claims for monetary
damages of $15,000 or less. e program now covers many superior court judicial
districts and applies to almost all civil cases for monetary damages of $15,000 or less.
A party who is not satised with the arbitrator’s decision has a right to have the case
heard by the district or superior court.
JURISDICTION
The North Carolina Judicial System | 19
Court Personnel
Justices and Judges
Justices and judges are nominated and elected in non-partisan elections, which
means that the judges are not associated on the ballot with a political party
(e.g., Democrat or Republican). e justices and judges of the appellate division
are elected by the voters of the entire state, while superior court judges and district
court judges are nominated and elected by the voters of their districts. A superior
court judge or a district court judge must reside in the district for which he or she is
elected as a judge, but a justice or judge of the appellate division can live anywhere in the
state. District court judges serve terms of four years. Justices and judges of the appellate
division and regular superior court judges all serve terms of eight years. ere also are
“special” superior court judges appointed by the governor for ve-year terms, who are
not required to live in a particular district but who otherwise have all of the authority of
a resident superior court judge.
When a vacancy occurs in a judgeship (usually through death or retirement) or a
new judgeship is created by the General Assembly, the governor lls the vacancy by
appointing a judge to ll the position until the next general election or for the remainder
of the former judge’s term in oce. Many judges initially obtain oce this way rather
than through election. us, while the constitution provides for election of judges, many
rst attain oce by appointment.
According to the state constitution, justices of the Supreme Court and the judges of the
trial divisions and the Court of Appeals must be attorneys. However, all of them are
prohibited from practicing law privately while they are judges. North Carolina judges
also must be under the age of seventy-two, the mandatory retirement age for judges.
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In addition to presiding over the sessions of their courts, some justices and judges have
additional duties. e Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has numerous
administrative duties as the head of the Judicial Department, including appointing
the director and the assistant director of the Administrative Oce of the Courts,
designating the Chief Judge from among the judges of the Court of Appeals and a chief
district court judge for each district court district, creating the schedule of superior court
sessions and assigning superior court judges to those sessions (assisted by the assistant
director of the Administrative Oce of the Courts), transferring district court judges to
other districts for temporary or specialized duty, appointing the chief administrative law
judge of the Oce of Administrative Hearings, and either serving on or appointing
representatives of the Judicial Department to numerous groups such as the State Judicial
Council and the Commission on Indigent Defense Services.
e trial division districts also have judges with additional duties. In each administrative
superior court district, the most senior judge (in years of service) is the “senior resident
superior court judge,” who is responsible for various administrative duties, including
appointing magistrates and some other court ocials, and managing the scheduling of
civil cases for trial. erefore for Wake County, as described under “e Superior Court
Division” earlier in this guide, four electoral districts are joined in a single district for
administrative purposes, and the senior resident superior court judge is the longest
serving judge of all the judges elected from those four districts.
Similar to the senior resident superior court judge for superior court districts, a district
court district has a chief district court judge. e chief district court judge is appointed
by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, rather than being determined by years of
service. Among other duties, the chief district court judge creates the schedule of district
court sessions for the district, assigns district court judges to preside over those sessions
and supervises the magistrates for each county in the district.
All judges and justices are governed by the Code of Judicial Conduct, as adopted by the
Supreme Court.
6
e Code governs all aspects of judicial conduct, including placing
limitations on the campaign practices of candidates for judicial oce during elections.
e Code requires a judge to perform the duties of the oce impartially and diligently
and sets out standards for meeting these duties, including when a judge should disqualify
himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might be questioned.
Also, the Code requires a judge to le a public report of extra-judicial activities for which
the judge receives compensation. A judge who violates the Code may be subject to
disciplinary action by the Judicial Standards Commission or by the Supreme Court
upon the Commission’s recommendation. e Commission is discussed further under
the “Related Agencies” section, page 39. Under the state constitution, judges also may be
removed through impeachment by the General Assembly or other prescribed processes.
Magistrates
Oen called a “judge” of small claims court, a magistrate is not a judge but rather
an ocer of the district court division. Unlike judges and justices, magistrates are
not elected. A magistrate is nominated for oce by the clerk of superior court,
appointed to that oce by the senior resident superior court judge of the district
and supervised by the chief district court judge. A magistrate must reside in the
county where appointed to serve. A magistrate serves an initial term of two years, but
if nominated and appointed to serve again, the magistrate’s second or any additional
terms are for four years. Unlike justices and judges, magistrates do not have a mandatory
retirement age.
To be nominated as a magistrate, a candidate must have a four-year college degree, eight
years of work experience as a clerk of superior court, or a two-year associate degree and
four years of work experience in a job related to the court system, law enforcement, or
other public service work. Many magistrates are attorneys, but they are not required to
be, and those who are attorneys are prohibited from practicing law privately while in
oce as a magistrate.
Magistrates perform numerous duties as ocers of the district court in both civil and
criminal proceedings. For a description of a magistrate’s authority in the regular civil and
criminal contexts, see “Jurisdiction,” earlier in this guide. In addition to presiding
over civil and criminal proceedings, magistrates have a few duties assigned specically to
their oce. Of these, performance of the marriage ceremony is the most common. e
magistrate is the only civil ocial in the state who can perform a marriage. Magistrates
also perform duties such as administering oaths and assigning a year’s allowance of living
expenses to the spouse of a deceased person from the deceased person’s estate, and
magistrates who meet certain qualications also may conduct child support hearings.
22 | The North Carolina Judicial System
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The North Carolina Judicial System | 23
Magistrates are not under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Standards Commission like
judges are, but they must obey the Code of Judicial Conduct, and the grounds for
removing magistrates are the same as for removing judges. A magistrate may be removed
from oce by a regular superior court judge holding court in the district where the
magistrate’s county is located, if the judge nds aer a hearing that there are grounds for
removal.
Clerks of Superior Court
e clerk of superior court is responsible for all clerical and record-keeping functions
of the superior court and district court, and keeps those records according to
rules established by the director of the Administrative Oce of the Courts.
e clerk’s oce also collects and invests money due to the State or on behalf
of parties involved in cases before the courts, and the clerk’s books and
accounts are subject to audit by the Oce of the State Auditor. e clerk and the clerk’s
employees are “bonded,” which means that the State insures that it will be compensated
for any liability if the clerk does not faithfully perform the duties of his or her oce.
e clerk also has numerous judicial duties. e clerk is the judge of probate, which
means that the clerk handles the probate of wills (proceedings to determine if a paper
writing is a valid will) and the administration of estates of the deceased, minors and
people who are incompetent. e clerk hears other special proceedings such as
adoptions, determinations of guardianship for incompetent adults, and partitions of
land, and handles the administration of trusts. In criminal matters the clerk can issue
arrest and search warrants, conduct initial appearance hearings for criminal defendants,
and exercise the same powers as a magistrate when taking waivers of trial and pleas of
guilty to minor littering, trac, wildlife, boating, marine sheries, alcoholic beverage,
state park recreation and worthless check oenses.
Each clerk has a number of assistants and deputies. e number of assistants and deputies
that each clerk may employ varies from county to county, depending on the volume of
business. Assistant and deputy clerks are paid on a salary schedule xed by the
Administrative Oce of the Courts and based on their education and years of service
in the clerk’s oce. e maximum and minimum salaries on that scale are set by the
General Assembly.
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e clerk of superior court is elected in a partisan election to a four-year term by the
voters of the clerk’s county. Clerks are paid by the state, and their salaries depend on the
population of their counties. If the oce of the clerk has a vacancy, the senior resident
superior court judge for the clerk’s county appoints a new clerk to serve until the next
election. In the event of a clerk’s misconduct or mental or physical incapacity, the senior
resident superior court judge is authorized to hold a hearing to remove the clerk from
oce.
District Attorneys
In all criminal and some juvenile matters, the district attorney represents the state.
e primary duty of the district attorney, with his or her assistants, is to prosecute all
criminal cases and infractions led in the superior and district courts in his or her
district. Other duties include preparing the criminal trial docket (the calendar of when
cases will be tried), advising law enforcement ocers in the district and assisting the
Oce of the Attorney General with appeals of criminal cases from the district attorney’s
district.
e state is divided into prosecutorial districts for the election of district attorneys, just
like it is divided into superior court and district court districts for the election of judges.
A district attorney is elected to a four-year term in a partisan election by the voters of
the district and must reside in the district. Like justices and judges, district attorneys and
their assistant district attorneys must be lawyers.
Each district attorney has assistant district attorneys who are paid by the state. e exact
number of assistants in each oce is set in statute by the General Assembly based
on the number of criminal cases in the district and on the recommendations of the
Administrative Oce of the Courts. District attorneys and their assistants are required
to devote full time to their prosecutorial duties and may not engage in the private
practice of law. Each district attorney also has an administrative assistant to aid in oce
administration and calendaring of cases, at least one victim-witness/legal assistant, and
other clerical support sta. Many also have a sta investigator.
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The North Carolina Judicial System | 25
e district attorney may be removed from oce for mental or physical incapacity or for
misconduct aer a hearing before a superior court judge. Assistant district attorneys
serve “at the pleasure” of the district attorney, which means that they may be terminated
whenever the district attorney sees t to do so.
Public Defenders
In all criminal cases and some juvenile proceedings, the State is represented by the district
attorney as the State’s lawyer. On the other side, the United States Constitution
and the North Carolina Constitution both provide that a defendant in a criminal
case is entitled to be represented by a lawyer, and North Carolina further provides a
juvenile accused of being delinquent or in violation of an undisciplined contempt
order with the right to a lawyer. In addition, North Carolina law provides that certain
civil respondents are entitled to counsel. If the defendant, juvenile or respondent is
“indigent,” meaning that he or she cannot aord to hire a lawyer, then the court will
appoint a lawyer to represent them. In many judicial districts, the appointed lawyer
is a private attorney paid by the State to represent the defendant, juvenile or
respondent, but in sixteen districts, there is a public defender’s oce created by the
State to represent indigent persons.
Like a district attorney, a public defender must be an attorney, must be devoted full-time
to the duties of his or her oce and must serve a term of four years. Unlike the district
attorney, the public defender is not elected by the voters; the public defender is
appointed by the senior resident superior court judge from a list of candidates
nominated by the other attorneys in the district. e public defender can be removed
from oce for the same reasons (e.g., misconduct or incapacity) and aer the same
process (a hearing before the senior resident superior court judge) as for the district
attorney.
Also like the district attorney, the public defender has a sta of assistant public
defenders, investigators and administrative sta. All of the sta serve at the pleasure
of the public defender. Unlike assistant district attorneys, whose numbers in each
district are set out in the General Statutes, the number of assistant public defenders
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in an oce is determined by the Oce of Indigent Defense Services (IDS), which
oversees indigent defense throughout the state. e public defender determines
the salary of assistant public defenders and other sta, subject to the approval of IDS.
See the “Court Administration section,” page 36, for more information about Indigent
Defense Services.
Judicial Support Sta
Personnel are provided to support the judges who preside over district and superior court.
Judicial assistants perform administrative and secretarial functions, including preparing
documents and tracking the status of cases. Trial court coordinators perform a variety of
administrative and case management functions.
In 1979, the General Assembly established state-funded trial court administrator
positions in certain districts set out in the General Statutes and as determined by the
Administrative Oce of the Courts. e trial court administrator for a district is hired
by the senior resident superior court judge, but in some districts they work for both the
superior court and district court divisions.
e general duties of trial court administrators include assisting in managing civil dockets,
improving jury utilization and other duties as assigned by the senior resident superior court
judge (e.g., receiving requests from elderly citizens to be excused from jury duty). ey
may also serve as the court’s liaison with other governmental and private organizations,
the press, and the public.
Guardian ad Litem
www.ncgal.org
An Oce of Guardian ad Litem Services was established in the Administrative Oce
of the Courts in 1983 to provide statewide guardian ad litem services to juveniles who
are alleged to be abused, neglected or dependent. A “guardian ad litem” is a person who
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26 | The North Carolina Judicial System
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is appointed to serve as an advocate for a child in a particular case or proceeding; “ad
litem” is a Latin phrase that means “for the suit,” so the guardian represents the child’s
best interests only in a particular “suit” (case).
Each of the state’s judicial districts has one Guardian ad Litem district administrator and
at least one other sta person who are paid employees, a program attorney and volunteer
guardians ad litem. e responsibility of the Guardian ad Litem Program is to ensure
that there are sucient volunteer guardians ad litem who are adequately trained and
supervised to carry out their duties. e statutory duties of guardian ad litem volunteers
are to make investigations to determine the facts of a case, the needs of the juvenile and
the available resources within the family and community to meet those needs, to help
settle disputed issues when appropriate, to explore options with the judge at the court
hearing, and to protect and promote the best interests of the juvenile. e program’s
attorney ensures protection of the juvenile’s legal rights.
Court Reporters
Court reporters record many of the proceedings of the trial division, such as trials and
hearings of pre-trial motions. e senior resident superior court judge appoints court
reporters for each judicial district, and the Administrative Oce of the Courts hires
court reporters to provide reporting services as needed when there are not enough local
reporters to cover the courts.
Reporters are required to record the courtroom proceedings verbatim, which means
exactly as they are spoken by the court ocials, witnesses and others speaking before the
court. Some parts of a trial, like the selection of jurors, are not recorded unless a party
asks for recording. When a case is appealed, court reporters prepare transcripts of the
case for the appealing parties. e reporter’s original notes are state property and are
preserved by the clerk of superior court.
In district court, only certain proceedings are recorded. Trials for misdemeanors and
infractions are not recorded, but pleas of guilty to low-level felonies must be recorded
the same as they would be in superior court. Juvenile hearings are recorded electronically,
and the recordings are later erased if there is no appeal for which a transcript must be
prepared. For civil cases in district court, recording by court reporter or electronic
recording is available if any party to the case requests it, but any court reporter in those
cases generally must be paid for by the parties.
Juries
Jury Service
Every two years (or every year, if requested by the senior resident superior court judge),
a master jury list is prepared in each county by a jury commission, which is composed of
three citizens who are qualied voters in the county and appointed by the senior resident
superior court judge, the clerk of superior court and the county commissioners. e list
is prepared by randomly selecting names from the rolls of registered voters and licensed
drivers in the county. e actual number of jurors selected for the list is based on the
number of people drawn for jury duty in the previous two years (or previous year, if
the county compiles its jury list annually). For each court session that requires a jury,
prospective jurors are selected randomly from this list.
All county residents are eligible for jury service if they are citizens of the state, are
eighteen years of age or older, are physically and mentally competent, and can hear and
understand the English language. A person is not allowed to serve on a jury if they have
been convicted of a felony and have not had their citizenship restored, or if they have
been adjudged non compos mentis (in other words, mentally incompetent). No person
can be excluded from jury service on account of his or her sex, race, color, religion or
national origin, and an employer may not discharge or demote an employee because of
the employee’s service as a juror.
Only a judge can exempt from jury service a person who has been called. North Carolina
does not provide an automatic exemption from jury service because of a person’s
profession or age, but a person who is called for jury service and is seventy-two years
of age or older may request an exemption by writing to the court rather than having to
make the request in person before the judge. A trial juror’s service is normally one week.
However, some counties use a system in which jurors are summoned for one day or one
trial rather than one week.
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Trial Juries
e Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 24, of
the North Carolina Constitution provide a person charged with a crime the right to a
trial by a jury. All criminal trials in the superior court are by a jury; the North Carolina
Constitution does not allow a judge to decide a criminal defendant’s guilt or innocence
at trial in superior court. Criminal charges before a district court judge or a magistrate
are “bench trials” conducted without a jury, but a defendant convicted in district court
has an automatic right to appeal the conviction to superior court for a new trial – which
must be before a jury.
Civil cases before the district and superior courts may be tried before a jury if any party to
the case requests it. If no party requests a jury, the judge will hear the evidence and decide
the facts of the case. In certain cases, however, including family court cases concerning
child custody and support, a jury is never used. A jury also never decides civil matters
before a magistrate.
ere is never a jury in the appellate division, because the Court of Appeals and
Supreme Court decide only “issues of law,” which means that they decide whether or
not the court(s) below made any legal errors in the case. e judges and justices of those
courts do not decide the facts of a case (or “issues of fact”); that is the jury’s function.
e Grand Jury
e trial jury in a criminal trial is also called a petit (or “small”) jury. A second type
of criminal jury is the grand jury. e grand jury consists of eighteen persons, half
drawn from the jurors called for a county’s rst criminal term of superior court aer
January 1 and half from those called for the rst criminal term of superior court aer
July 1. A grand jury member normally serves for twelve months. e grand jury usually
meets for one or two days at the beginning of each criminal session or once a month in
counties with multiple criminal sessions. A few large urban counties have two grand juries
to avoid imposing too much on those who serve as grand jurors. An ocial accusation
by the grand jury, called an “indictment,” is necessary to try a person for a felony in the
superior court, unless the accused waives their right to indictment. e accused may waive
indictment in all cases except those for which the punishment would be death or when
he or she is not represented by an attorney.
Education and Training of Court Personnel
Because court personnel need to keep up with ever-changing law and procedure,
education and training programs for them are essential to a good judicial system. e
Supreme Court requires judges to attend at least thirty hours of continuing legal
education in each two-year period. As practicing attorneys, district attorneys and public
defenders must attend at least twelve hours of training each year. Newly appointed
magistrates are required to complete a basic training course and must attend at least twelve
hours of continuing education during each two-year term of oce. Other court personnel,
such as clerks of court and judicial support sta, also are required to have ongoing
training, as do employees of agencies outside the Judicial Department who are closely
involved with the courts (e.g., law enforcement ocers who use the courts’ computer
programs to produce warrants for arrest). Two agencies play a role in providing this vital
service.
e Administrative Oce of the Courts
www.nccourts.org/Courts/CRS/AOCAdmin
e Administrative Oce of the Courts works closely with the University of North
Carolina’s School of Government in planning and preparing programs, and it
supplies legal memoranda, books and materials to court personnel. In addition, the
Administrative Oce of the Courts has education sta responsible for maximizing
the eectiveness of all Judicial Department training, and maintains classrooms around
the state for training Judicial Department employees and others in the computer
applications used in the courts. e “classrooms” also include a mock courtroom for
training of court personnel in courtroom procedures and a mobile classroom of laptop
computers for training in more remote locations that lack adequate training facilities.
30 | The North Carolina Judicial System
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School of Goernment
www.sog.unc.edu
e School of Government at e University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill engages in
research, teaching and consultation with court personnel. It has faculty members who
conduct seminars or short courses each year for judges, clerks, district attorneys, public
defenders and magistrates. It also publishes various articles, memoranda and books to aid
court personnel in their work. Information about those publications is available on the
School of Government’s website.
Court Administration
Administrative Oce of the Courts
www.nccourts.org
e 1962 amendment of the North Carolina Constitution that created North Carolina’s
current Judicial Department also required that the General Assembly create an
administrative agency to manage this third branch of North Carolina government. e
Administrative Oce of the Courts is that agency, created by the General Assembly in
1965. e Chief Justice of the Supreme Court appoints the director of the
Administrative Oce of the Courts who supervises the agency. e Chief Justice also
appoints an assistant director, who serves as administrative assistant to the Chief Justice.
Both the director and the assistant director serve at the pleasure of the Chief Justice.
e duties of the director of the Administrative Oce of the courts, carried out
by its employees hired by the director, are many. e Administrative Oce of the
Courts develops the uniform rules, forms and methods for keeping the records of
the courts, particularly those records maintained by the clerks of superior court.
e director prepares the budget for the Judicial Department for submission to
the General Assembly and authorizes the expenditure of the funds appropriated
by the General Assembly for the courts’ use. ose expenditures include securing
physical facilities to house the Administrative Oce of the Courts and purchasing and
distributing the supplies, equipment, books and computers used to run the courts and
maintain the records described above.
As part of the director’s duty to prescribe the methods of keeping the courts’ records, and
using funds appropriated by the General Assembly and certain fees paid to the courts, the
Administrative Oce of the Courts provides information technology resources to the
court system. is includes development and maintenance of new information systems;
32 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 33
purchasing, maintenance and support of all computer hardware and soware;
maintenance and development of the Administrative Oce of the Courts’ statewide
network for voice and data communications; and operation of Administrative Oce
of the Courts’ data center. e Administrative Oce of the Courts has developed and
maintains the North Carolina Court System website, www.nccourts.org, which serves
the public and hosts individual county courts’ websites.
Except for those salaries set by the General Assembly, the Administrative Oce of the
Courts develops pay plans for court employees and evaluates job classications. e
Administrative Oce of the Courts also collects and publishes statistics and reports on
the work of the Judicial Department, develops training programs for court ocials and
provides educational materials.
e Administrative Oce of the Courts
also manages the assignment of superior
court judges and emergency judges. As
described in the “superior court division”
section earlier in this guide, North
Carolina has a system of rotation for superior
court judges. e assistant director of the
Administrative Oce of the Courts
develops each six-month rotation schedule
of where judges will be assigned to hold
court within their superior court divisions.
e assistant director publishes the rotation
schedule on an annual basis.
Financial Support of the Courts
Since the unied court system was
established, all operating expenses of
the Judicial Department have been
paid by the State. ese include salaries
Since the unied court system
was established, all
operating expenses of the
Judicial Department have
been paid by the State. ese
include salaries and travel
expenses of all court ocials,
juror and witness fees, and
equipment and oce
supplies for the judicial system.
Counties and cities, however,
are responsible for proiding
courtrooms and related
judicial physical facilities.
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and travel expenses of all court ocials, juror and witness fees, and equipment and oce
supplies for the judicial system. Counties and cities, however, are responsible for
providing courtrooms and related judicial physical facilities, including furniture. Almost
all of the state nancing of the judicial system comes from funds appropriated by the
General Assembly, with a small portion coming from federal grants. Except for certain
fees related to the electronic ling of cases or electronic access to court records, the
courts do not keep the money collected as costs, fees, and nes; instead, it is paid into the
General Fund of the State or to the counties and cities around the state.
In civil actions, two primary cost items are paid by the parties: a General Court of
Justice fee that goes to the State and a facilities fee that goes to the county or city that
supplies the courts’ physical facilities, to be used for the support of those facilities.
Additional fees can be assessed for particular types of cases, such as a special fee for ling
a divorce case.
Criminal actions include other fees in addition to the General Court of Justice fee and
the facilities fee. e court collects a law enforcement ocers’ fee for each personal
service of criminal process (e.g., serving a warrant for arrest). is fee goes to the county
or city whose ocer performed the service. e court also collects a fee that is sent to the
State Treasurer for law enforcement ocers’ retirement and insurance funds.
In addition to basic cost items, parties might be charged other expenses like the costs of a
witness’ attendance at trial or for the services of a guardian ad litem or a mediator. In
both civil and criminal cases, a portion of the General Court of Justice fee is given to
the North Carolina State Bar to provide civil legal services for people who cannot aord
lawyers and to provide legal help to victims of domestic violence. e courts also
collect certain miscellaneous fees that are paid to the State, such as fees for copying court
records or issuing a writ of execution by which the sheri collects the money owed to a
party as the result of a court’s judgment.
Fines and forfeitures are dierent from costs and fees. A ne is a money penalty
imposed on a defendant as punishment for conviction of a crime. A forfeiture
occurs when a judge orders that a party forfeit money or property to the State
as the result of an unlawful act, like a bail bond forfeited when a criminal
defendant does not appear for court or when property or money is forfeited to
the State because it was used in the commission of a crime. e North Carolina
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The North Carolina Judicial System | 35
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Constitution requires that the clear proceeds of any nes and forfeitures be paid to the
county for the use of the public schools, so nes or forfeitures are not used to support
the court system.
Public Records and the Courts
Under North Carolina’s Public Records Act, the records and information compiled by the
agencies of state government and local governments are the property of the people, and
those records usually are available for the public to review (and copy, if the requester pays
the costs of producing the copies) during the an agency’s regular business hours or on the
Internet, if available. e Judicial Department agencies (such as the Administrative
Oce of the Courts and the Judicial Council) and local ocials (like the clerk of
superior court) also are subject to the public records law.
ere are some exceptions to the Public Records Act, which means that some records of the
courts are condential and not available to the public. Examples of the courts’ condential
records include warrants for arrest that have been issued by a judicial ocial but not
yet returned to the courts by the law enforcement ocer assigned to serve it, adoption
records and almost all records of juvenile cases.
Representation of Indigents
As described in the “Public Defender” section earlier in this guide, a defendant accused
of a crime who is indigent (nancially unable to employ a lawyer) may be appointed an
attorney who will be paid by the State. A juvenile alleged to be delinquent also is entitled
to have an attorney appointed, as are indigent parties to certain other court proceedings,
such as revocation of probation or involuntary commitment to a state mental hospital.
Oce of Indigent Defense Services
www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/ids
To manage the appointment of attorneys to represent indigent persons, the General
Assembly created the Oce of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) in 2000. IDS is part of
the Judicial Department and receives administrative support from the Administrative
Oce of the Courts, but exercises its authority independent of the Administrative
Oce of the Courts’ supervision. e General Assembly also created the Commission
on Indigent Defense Services to develop standards for indigent representation and to
develop and improve programs by which the Oce of Indigent Defense Services
provides legal representation to indigent persons. e Commission appoints the
director of the Oce of Indigent Defense Services. e oce’s goals are to ensure that
every attorney representing indigent persons at state expense has the qualications,
training, support and resources needed to be eective advocates; to create a system that
will eliminate the recognized problems and conicts caused by judges appointing and
compensating defense attorneys; and to manage the State’s indigent defense fund in an
ecient and equitable manner.
For most cases, the clerk or trial judge assigns a local attorney (or the public defender’s
oce, if there is one in the district) to represent an indigent defendant. For capital cases,
IDS is responsible for appointing two attorneys to represent the defendant. Fees and
expenses of appointed attorneys are paid by the State from IDS’ budget. e public
defender’s oce represents most of the indigent defendants in the district, but private
attorneys are still called upon to represent indigents when the public defender’s oce is
handling the maximum number of cases it can handle at one time or when representation
of a defendant would cause a conict of interest for the public defender’s oce.
Appellate Defender
A state-funded Oce of the Appellate Defender began operations in 1981. e
Durham-based oce was transferred to the Oce of Indigent Defense Services in 2000,
and the Commission on Indigent Defense Services appoints the appellate defender to a
four-year term. e appellate defender’s oce represents indigent persons who appeal
36 | The North Carolina Judicial System
COURT ADMINISTRATION
The North Carolina Judicial System | 37
COURT ADMINISTRATION
their convictions to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. e oce also manages
the roster of private attorneys who are eligible for appointment in appellate cases.
Capital Defender
A state-funded Oce of the Capital Defender began operations in 1999. e oce
represents indigent defendants who are charged with potentially capital oenses, which
means that they may result in the death penalty for the defendant. e oce also
manages the list of private attorneys who are eligible for appointment in potentially
capital cases.
Juvenile Defender
Based on a recommendation from the Commission on Indigent Defense Services, the
General Assembly authorized the creation of a new statewide juvenile defender position
in 2004. e mission of the juvenile defender’s oce is to provide services and
support to defense attorneys, to evaluate the current system of representation and make
recommendations as needed, to elevate the stature of juvenile delinquency
representation, and to work with other juvenile justice actors to promote positive change
in the juvenile justice system.
Sentencing Services
e Sentencing Services Program provides sentencing information to judges in selected
criminal cases and recommends whether or not an oender is suited for a particular
community corrections program. Judges are presented with a written plan giving a
detailed assessment and description of the oender’s background. e program was
transferred from the direct supervision of the Administrative Oce of the Courts to
IDS in 2002. Sentencing Services programs operate in many judicial districts.
Related Agencies
In the Judicial Department
Judicial Council
e State Judicial Council was created by the General Assembly in 1999 to promote
overall improvement in the Judicial Department. e duties of the Council are to:
• studythejudicialsystemandreportperiodicallytotheChiefJustice
• advisetheChiefJusticeonprioritiesforfunding
• reviewandgiveadviceontheJudicialDepartmentbudget
• studyandrecommendtotheGeneralAssemblysalariesandcompensationfor
justices, judges and other judicial ocials
• recommendthecreationofjudgeshipswhereneeded
• recommend performance standards for evaluating the courts and judicial
ocials
• recommendguidelinesfortheassignmentandmanagementofcases
• monitortheuseofalternativedisputeresolution
• recommendchangesintheboundariesofjudicialdistrictsanddivisions
• monitortheeectivenessoftheJudicialDepartmentinservingthepublic
e Council comprises eighteen members who represent every court function, private
attorneys and the public, and is organized into committees on substantive topics related
to its overall mission. e Administrative Oce of the Courts provides sta assistance
to the Council.
38 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 39
Judicial Standards Commission
e Judicial Standards Commission was established to consider complaints against
judges and justices and, where appropriate, to make recommendations for disciplining
them. e Commission is authorized to investigate the qualications or conduct of
any judge based upon a complaint from a citizen or on its own initiative. Grounds for
disciplining a judge include willful misconduct in oce, willful and persistent failure to
perform judicial duties, habitual intemperance, or conviction of a crime involving mor-
al turpitude or conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and that brings the
judicial oce into disrepute.
If the Commission nds aer an investigation that a judge has violated the Code of
Judicial Conduct,
6
but the violation was not serious enough to deserve public
punishment, the Commission can issue the judge a “letter of caution” about the violation.
If the Commission decides that some public punishment is needed, it can issue the judge
a public reprimand. If the judge rejects the reprimand, the Commission will hold a full
hearing to determine whether or not to discipline the judge. In more serious cases
and aer the judge has been given a hearing, the Commission may recommend to
the Supreme Court that the judge be censured (a more formal kind of reprimand) or
suspended or removed from oce. When referring a case to the Supreme Court, the
Commission only makes a recommendation; the Commission cannot actually censure,
suspend or remove a judge on its own. e Supreme Court must vote on the actual
punishment to be imposed, if any. All papers led with the Commission and the records of its
investigations are condential, as are letters of caution. Public reprimands and any cases
that require a hearing before the Commission, including any recommendations to the
Supreme Court for censure or removal of the judge, are public records.
Conference of Clerks of Superior Court
e General Assembly established the Conference of Clerks of Superior Court of
North Carolina in 2005, making each of the 100 elected clerks of superior court a
member. e functions of the conference are to cooperate with public and private
agencies to promote the administration of justice, develop advisory guidelines to as-
RELATED AGENCIES IN THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
sist the clerks with the administration of their oces and duties, and to work with the
Administrative Oce of the Courts and the University of North Carolina School
of Government to develop educational programs for the clerks and their stas. e
conference began its operations in 2007.
Conference of District Attorneys
www.ncdistrictattorney.org
e North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys was created in 1983. All of the
elected district attorneys of the State are members of the conference. e conference
serves as a resource for the State’s prosecutors, assisting with training eorts for district
attorneys and their stas, conducting research on topics of concern to prosecutors,
promoting the rights of victims and managing grants from the federal government and
the Governor’s Crime Commission to improve the State’s law enforcement and criminal
justice processes.
Oce of Indigent Defense Services
www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/ids
e Oce of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) manages the delivery of legal services to
indigent persons appearing before the state’s courts. For more information about IDS,
see the section titled “Representation of Indigents” earlier in this guide.
Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission
www.nccourts.org/Courts/CRS/Councils/spac
In 1990 the General Assembly created the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory
Commission (Sentencing Commission) within the Judicial Department to evaluate
sentencing laws and policies and their relationship to the purposes of the criminal
RELATED AGENCIES IN THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
40 | The North Carolina Judicial System
RELATED AGENCIES IN THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
The North Carolina Judicial System | 41
justice and corrections systems. e Commission has 30 members drawn
from all three branches of government, from all areas of the criminal justice
system and from the public. In its early years, the Sentencing Commission devised
a new sentencing system for the State, that was enacted as the Structured
Sentencing Act in 1993 and became eective in October 1994. In 1998, the
Commission’s mandate was expanded to include monitoring and recommending
policies for the juvenile justice system.
e Sentencing Commission continues to monitor the eect of sentencing on the prison
population, determine the long-range needs of the criminal and juvenile justice
systems and corrections systems, identify critical problems in the those
systems, and recommend strategies to solve those problems. e Commission is
required to make recommendations to the General Assembly about pending
criminal legislation and makes regular reports to the General Assembly and other
agencies. e Commission’s reports include annual statistical summaries of criminal
sentences imposed, reports on the recidivism rates of criminal defendants and juvenile
delinquents, and special reports as requested by the General Assembly or other agencies
on topics like sentencing of misdemeanors and how to handle special populations like
youthful oenders.
Innocence Inquiry Commission
www.innocencecommission-nc.gov
A defendant convicted of a crime can appeal the conviction to a higher court, but if
there were no legal errors in the defendant’s trial, the jury’s verdict of guilt is not
overturned. However, evidence discovered later or improvements in scientic
methods of examining evidence (e.g., DNA evidence) have demonstrated that some
defendants convicted and sent to prison did not commit the crimes for which
they were convicted. To examine cases in which that might have happened, the
General Assembly created the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission in
2006. e commission reviews, investigates and hears claims of innocence by convicted
defendants when new evidence becomes available that was not available at the original
trial or a post-conviction hearing. If the commission determines that sucient evidence
of actual innocence exists, the case is referred to a panel of three judges who will review
the case and determine whether or not to reverse the conviction and dismiss the original
charges against the defendant.
Dispute Resolution Commission
www.nccourts.org/Courts/CRS/Councils/DRC
Established in 1995, the Dispute Resolution Commission’s primary purpose is the
licensing (called “certication”) and regulation of private mediators in the State’s courts.
e Commission also recommends rules for mediation in North Carolina courts,
provides support and advice to the courts’ mediation programs, certies mediation
trainers, assists other agencies interested in or providing dispute resolution services,
publishes a newsletter about alternative dispute resolution and maintains its website as
a resource on dispute resolution. e Commission members include judges, mediators,
attorneys and private citizens.
Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism
www.nccourts.org/Courts/CRS/Councils/Professionalism
e Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism was established in 1998 to
enhance professionalism among North Carolina’s lawyers, judges and law students.
e Commission’s chair is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and its members
include judges from all divisions of the Judicial Department, deans of the state’s law
schools, practicing attorneys and three public members. To carry out its purpose, the
Commission evaluates the current state of professionalism and ethical behavior among
lawyers, promotes inclusion of the study of professionalism in Continuing Legal
Education programs, and coordinates eorts to promote professional conduct with law
schools, the State Bar and the courts. e Commission also tries to assist citizens who
have complaints about an attorney’s professional conduct, particularly when the conduct
may be unprofessional but does not amount to a violation of the State Bar’s Rules of
Professional Conduct. See the section on the “North Carolina State Bar” under “Related
Agencies – Outside the Judicial Department” for more information about attorney
conduct and discipline.
RELATED AGENCIES IN THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
42 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 43
Related Agencies
Outside the Judicial Department
Legislative Branch
North Carolina General Assembly
www.ncleg.net
e General Assembly is the Legislative Branch of North Carolina’s government. Its
actions have a tremendous impact on the Judicial Department because the legislature,
by its enactment of laws and funding of programs, determines to a large extent how the
court system will operate. e General Assembly receives reports and recommendations
from numerous governmental and private organizations that study the court system and
recommend changes – like the North Carolina Bar Association, the Governor’s Crime
Commission and the Judicial Council. e General Assembly decides whether to enact
the recommendations into law. Other legislation does not directly address the operations
of the courts, but oen aects the duties of court personnel because of their particular
functions. For example, many statutes designate the clerk of superior court as the keeper
of various records of the public’s business (e.g., election results from local boards of
elections), even when the record does not actually involve a court case.
Much of the business of the General Assembly is done by the committees of its two
houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Most laws dealing with courts
pass through the judiciary committees. Each house’s appropriation committee – the
committee that decides how the State’s budget is allocated – has a subcommittee on
Justice and Public Safety that is responsible for making all budgetary recommendations
for the Judicial Department, including proposals for increasing the numbers of court
ocials and funding new programs within the court system. e counterparts to the
appropriations committees are the Finance committees, which review legislation
concerning how the State receives funds. Because the courts serve as the point of
collection and disbursement of many of the State’s non-tax sources of revenue (e.g., nes
and forfeitures paid out to the county for operation of the public schools), much of the
legislation aecting the courts passes through the nance committees.
Courts Commission
e Courts Commission is a body of court ocials, members of the General
Assembly, practicing attorneys and private citizens. e members are appointed
by the Governor, the leaders of both houses of the General Assembly and the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. First established in the 1960s, the commission
researched, draed and promoted the amendments to the State’s constitution
and much of the legislation that led to the current structure of the Judicial
Department.
e statutes that created the original Courts Commission were repealed in 1975, but the
commission was re-created four years later. It has met as needed since its re-enactment,
and continues to study and make recommendations for the structure, organization,
jurisdiction, procedures and personnel of the state’s court system.
Executive Branch
www.ncgov.com
e Executive Branch is led by the Governor as the chief executive ocer of the State and
comprises numerous agencies like the Department of Revenue, the Department of
Health and Human Services, and the Department of Transportation. Although almost
all government agencies interact with the court system in some way, a few agencies of the
Executive Branch are closely related to the justice system and are described briey in the
following text.
RELATED AGENCIES OUTSIDE THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
44 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 45
RELATED AGENCIES OUTSIDE THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Department of Justice
www.ncdoj.com
e North Carolina Department of Justice operates under the direction of the Attorney
General, who is elected for a term of four years in a statewide election. e Attorney
General’s oce provides legal advice to all state government departments, agencies and
commissions in legal matters, and represents the State and its agencies in court.
For criminal matters, the Attorney General’s oce consults with and advises the district
attorneys whenever they request assistance, and its Special Prosecutions Section
prosecutes criminal cases at the trial level when a district attorney asks it to do so.
e oce also oversees the development of training and licensing rules for law
enforcement agencies and for professions related to law enforcement or security, such as
private security services and companies that install security alarm systems.
e Department of Justice includes the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), which identies
and apprehends criminals, investigates, analyzes and prepares evidence to be used in the
criminal courts, and provides assistance to local law enforcement ocers and district
attorneys. e Criminal Information and Identication Section of the SBI operates DCI,
a computerized communication and records system for sharing information among law
enforcement agencies and other authorized users. DCI is North Carolina’s interface with
the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC), the criminal records system of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
www.ncdjjdp.org
e Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (DJJDP) was created
as part of the reform of North Carolina’s juvenile justice system. In 1998, the General
Assembly created the Oce of Juvenile Justice as part of the Governor’s oce, and in
2000 changed the Oce of Juvenile Justice to a full state agency on its own – DJJDP
– led by a Secretary who is appointed by the Governor. DJJDP manages the State’s
juvenile justice system in cooperation with the courts and criminal justice agencies.
e Department’s primary responsibilities include appointing and supervising the court
counselors who manage individual juvenile cases in the district courts, overseeing the
agencies and programs around the State that provide services to juveniles found to be
delinquent or undisciplined (or at risk of being found delinquent or undisciplined),
operating the State’s youth development centers for delinquent youth (formerly
called “training schools”), and researching, planning, and reporting on the needs and
eectiveness of the State’s juvenile justice system.
Department of Correction
www.doc.state.nc.us
e Department of Correction (DOC), under the authority of the Secretary of
Correction as the head of the department, provides custody, supervision, and treatment
for the control and rehabilitation of criminal oenders. DOC operates the State’s
prisons and supervises oenders who have been placed on probation, released from
prison on post-release supervision or parole, or convicted of certain sex oenses and
who must wear global positioning system (GPS) devices to track their movements.
e Department also provides treatment services to oenders who have alcohol
or drug problems, and operates Correction Enterprises, which provides low-cost
manufacturing and labor services to state and local government agencies and applies the
income from those services to support the Department’s operations.
Goernor’s Crime Commission
www.gcc.state.nc.us
e Governor’s Crime Commission was established pursuant to the federal Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
7
as a mechanism for allocating federal funds
within the State’s criminal justice system. e Crime Commission is composed of state
and local ocials involved in the criminal justice system and private citizens.
RELATED AGENCIES OUTSIDE THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
46 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 47
RELATED AGENCIES OUTSIDE THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Besides awarding federal and state grant money and advising the governor on matters
pertaining to the criminal justice system, the Commission studies criminal justice issues,
makes long-range planning and policy recommendations for improving the criminal
justice system and develops a legislative agenda for improving the system. It also provides
data analysis, research and technical assistance to state agencies, and serves as the primary
clearinghouse for information on crime and the criminal justice system.
North Carolina State Bar
www.ncbar.gov
e North Carolina State Bar is the State’s licensing and regulatory agency for
attorneys and paralegals. Except for out-of-state attorneys allowed to appear on a
case-by-case basis, a person must be licensed by the State Bar in order to practice law
in North Carolina. e Bar is governed by the State Bar Council, which comprises
attorney representatives from each judicial district, plus three non-attorneys appointed
by the Governor.
In addition to licensing attorneys, the State Bar also disciplines attorneys who violate the
Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct, which dene the standards of professional and ethical
conduct that attorneys must follow in the practice of law. e State Bar has a committee
that investigates complaints of unethical practice by an attorney and, if a violation is
found, can discipline the attorney. Disciplinary actions can result in penalties as minor as
a warning or as severe as “disbarment,” which means revocation of the attorney’s license to
practice law. Any citizen who wishes to make a complaint about the professional conduct
of an attorney should contact the State Bar (www.ncbar.gov) or the Chief Justice’s
Commission on Professionalism (discussed earlier in this guide).
e State Bar is not the same agency as the North Carolina Bar Association, which is
a private association of attorneys that promotes the interests of the legal profession. To
practice law in North Carolina, an attorney must be a member of and licensed by the
State Bar but does not have to be a member of the Bar Association.
Private Organizations
Private associations of court ocials and of attorneys also contribute to the working of
the court system. A few such associations are described in the following text.
Private Associations of Court Personnel
Several groups of court ocials (e.g., judicial support personnel, district court judges,
assistant and deputy clerks of court) have formed private organizations to evaluate
and improve the processes by which each group performs its functions in the Judicial
Department. e clerks of superior court and the district attorneys also belong to private
associations in addition to their statutory conferences described earlier in this guide.
Each group holds at least one annual meeting. ese meetings are primarily educational,
at which speakers discuss changes in the law aecting the group and the court ocials
discuss matters of mutual concern. Generally, the ocers of the associations plan the
programs with the assistance of the University of North Carolina School of Government
and the Administrative Oce of the Courts. Another function of these organizations is
to permit each group of court ocials to take positions concerning legislation or policy
that reect the opinion of the group as a whole.
Private Associations of Attorneys
Many attorneys belong to private associations devoted to practicing in certain
areas of the law (e.g., criminal defense, civil plaintis). Other private organizations
48 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 49
of attorneys are based on common characteristics of the attorneys, themselves
(e.g., women attorneys) and the particular interests or challenges for that particular
group in the practice of law. Each of these private organizations of attorneys has its
own goals and activities, but some common functions carried out by such groups
include sponsoring legal education programs for their members, establishing
relationships with and helping to mentor law students at the law schools around the
State, representing their members’ interests by lobbying the General Assembly, and
providing information to the other agencies concerned with operation of the courts
and the law, such as the Judicial Council or the North Carolina State Bar. Some of the
private associations of attorneys are:
• NorthCarolinaBarAssociation
www.ncbar.org
• North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (criminal defense and civil plaintis’
attorneys)
www.ncatl.org
• NorthCarolinaAssociationofDefenseAttorneys(civildefenseattorneys)
www.ncada.org
• NorthCarolinaAssociationofBlackLawyers
Golden Belt Center, 807 E. Main Street #1-C, Durham, NC 27701
• NorthCarolinaAssociationofWomenAttorneys
www.ncawa.org
PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS
Judicial Department Data
Fiscal Year 2006 – 2007 | July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007
SUPREME COURT
7 justices Appeals led 246
Appeals disposed 214
COURT OF APPEALS
15 judges Appeals led 1,623
Appeals disposed 1,755
SUPERIOR COURT
109 judges Total cases led 363,091
(includes 14 Total cases disposed 342,305
special judges)
Cases Filed Disposed
Civil 27,091 27,762
Felonies 111,059 105,603
Misdemeanors 41,820 40,804
Estates 62,028 60,306
Special proceedings 121,093 107,830
DISTRICT COURT
256 judges Total cases led 2,986,871
Total cases disposed 2,907,265*
*Does not include the dispositions of civil license revocations
Cases Filed Disposed
Domestic relations 132,600 130,185
General civil 72,205 69,095
CVM appeal / transfer 3,621 3,566
Civil magistrate 264,194 262,955
Criminal non-motor vehicle 636,751 637,891
Criminal motor vehicle 1,018,120 1,000,106
Infractions 808,384 803,467
Civil license revocations 50,996
Other District Court Data
Domestic violence protective orders 31,576 entered
Driving while impaired and 72,421 led
implied consent charges 74,016 disposed
50 | The North Carolina Judicial System
The North Carolina Judicial System | 51
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL 5,868.575*
Clerks of superior court 100.00 Court support sta 1,074.825
Clerk personnel 2,389.75 AOC Sta 394.75
Magistrates 724 Guardian ad Litem 143.75
District attorneys 42 Personnel
Assistant district attorneys 571 Other** 28.5
Trial court administrators 13
* e total personnel gures include grant-funded FTEs, but not Indigent Defense Services and public
defender FTEs. Data are authorized FTEs as of June 30, 2007.
** Judicial Standards Commission, District Attorney’s Conference, Dispute Resolution Commission,
Conference of Clerks of Superior Court, Innocence Inquiry Commission, Chief Justice’s Commission
on Professionalism, and Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT BUDGET*
Total authorized appropriations $400,159,117
Percentage of total state budget 2.12%
Total expenditures $410,661,508
(includes receipts such as grants)
* Does not include indigent defense or State Bar / Civil Justice Act funds
$467+ MILLION DISTRIBUTED TO CITIZENS AND GOVERNMENTS
Distributed to citizens $161,372,962 26.99%
(judgments, restitution, condemnation awards, child support, alimony, etc.)
Remitted to state treasurer $210,308,069 35.18%
(various court fees, appellate division report sales, law enforcement ocer and sheri benets, and pretrial
civil revocation fees)
Distributed to counties $92,986,316 15.55%
( facilities, ocer, jail and pretrial civil revocation fees, plus nes and forfeitures for public schools)
Distributed to municipalities $3,075,443 0.51%
( facilities, ocer and jail fees)
ESTIMATED DAY-IN-COURT COSTS
(based on 2008-09 position costs)*
Cost of one-day criminal jury trial in superior court $2,283
Cost of one-day criminal trial in district court $1,406
*Does not include costs for indigent representation
MISCELLANEOUS
Abused or neglected children served by
the Guardian ad Litem program 17,701
Funded family courts districts 11
Districts with custody mediation programs 36
Counties with court arbitration programs 72
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT DATA
52 | The North Carolina Judicial System
Endnotes
1
North Carolina Bar Association, Report of the Committee on Improving and Expediting
the Administration of Justice in North Carolina (1958).
2
www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/html/opinions.htm.
3
In addition to meeting in the county seat of each county, the superior court must meet
regularly in any city in the state that was not a county seat but had a population over
35,000 in the 1960 U.S. census. N.C.G.S. 7A-42(a). High Point was the only city in
North Carolina that t that description in 1960.
4
See Black’s Law Dictionary 853 (6th ed. 1990) for a more thorough denition of
“jurisdiction.”
5
Black’s Law Dictionary 435 (6th ed. 1990).
6
A copy of the current Code of Judicial Conduct may be found online at:
www.nccourts.org/Courts/CRS/Councils/JudicialStandards/Documents/
Amendments-NCJudicialCode.pdf.
7
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, P.L. 90-351 (1968).
Notes
Notes
1,200 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $XXX.XX, or about $X.XX per copy. Printed on recycled paper.
North Carolina Judicial Department
Administrative Office of the Courts
WWW.NCCOURTS.ORG
