by Scott Mitchell (AL)

Spring has finally arrived!  With longer days and warmer temperatures, evenings hold the promise of dinners on the patio, a walk through the neighborhood, some much needed yardwork, or watching a kid’s soccer match or baseball game.  And for the NCACC, spring means it is time for the Executive Committee to convene.  As I write this update, we are preparing for our Executive Committee meeting in sunny Tampa, Florida.  During that meeting, the Executive Committee will experience firsthand the Hotel Flor, our host hotel for the 2027 Annual Meeting.   

The agenda for the Executive Committee is a full one.  Among the most significant items will be the report of the Bylaws Committee, which includes a draft of the plain-language rewrite of our bylaws.  Over the past two years, a subcommittee led by Julie Clement has worked methodically through each section of our bylaws, rewriting them in a clear, concise manner.  I want to thank Julie and the members of the subcommittee for their diligence in this endeavor.  The Executive Committee also will consider the report of the Strategic Planning Committee which includes a draft of the new NCACC strategic plan.  An updated strategic plan is overdue since our most recent strategic plan was adopted in 2006.  A current, forward-looking strategic plan will give the NCACC meaningful direction in the years ahead.  Many thanks to Larry Royster and the Strategic Planning Committee for developing this document over recent months.  We hope to present both items to the full membership for adoption at this summer’s annual meeting.

Speaking of the annual meeting – August will be here before we know it.  Deana Williamson is planning a fabulous time for us in Austin.  Hotel registration at the LINE Hotel is already open, and I encourage you to reserve your room soon.  Conference registration will open shortly after our spring executive committee meeting.   

Artificial intelligence has been a featured topic at each of our last three annual conferences, and Austin will be no different.  In Detroit in 2023, we were asked to place ourselves on a continuum of comfort with AI.  We lined up across the meeting room based on our comfort level, with one end being fully at ease and the other end being deep uncertainty.  Do you remember where you stood in 2023?  I remember standing somewhere in the middle, but on the uncertain side of center.

At our 2024 conference in Burlington, Jannet Okazaki told us during her presentation that we will not be replaced by AI, but we will be replaced by someone who knows how to use AI if we do not learn ourselves.  I believe she was right.  Those of us who serve as appellate court clerks cannot afford to look away as this technology reshapes the practice of law and the work of court professionals. 

In some ways, AI reminds me of kudzu.  Introduced to the United States in 1876 as an ornamental plant at the Japanese Exhibition of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, kudzu found in the American South a climate far more hospitable than its native Asia.  The kudzu vine can grow up to 60 feet in a single season and as much as a foot in a single day.  Left unchecked, it swallows fields, trees, and structures in its path.  Yet kudzu is not without value.  Its roots have medicinal uses, and its vines stabilize soil and reduce erosion.  The challenge lies not in the plant itself, but in learning to manage its growth.

AI presents a similar challenge and similar opportunity.  Its advancement is rapid and largely unchecked.  A white paper written today about AI is obsolete tomorrow.  AI soon will touch nearly every aspect of our work as courts and as clerks if it does not already do so.  Like kudzu, AI is not inherently harmful.  Harnessed thoughtfully, AI holds real potential to improve how we serve the courts and the public.

The National Center for State Courts has provided the following four practical steps toward building confidence in AI:

• Train everyone on AI.  Offer training to your judges and staff; help them understand what AI is and is not.
• Revaluate workflows.  Identify what tasks are candidates for automation through AI.
• Celebrate small wins.  Encourage experimentation with AI and share success stories to build confidence.
• Create an AI policy.  Set clear guidelines for AI use.  California requires each court to adopt an AI use policy, and other states are likely to follow.

As we head to Austin, I think back to that ballroom in Detroit where those in attendance stood on that continuum. Where do you stand today?  Are you more confident in AI than you were three years ago? Perhaps in Austin we should recreate that exercise and see how far we all have moved.