Category: New Clerks
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“Getting Plugged In: A New Municipal Court Clerk’s Guide to MMCCA Membership, Training, and Conferences”
Starting as a Municipal Court Clerk can feel overwhelming. Between learning daily court operations, understanding reporting requirements, handling defendants, preparing dockets, and managing deadlines, many new clerks are also trying to figure out how professional organizations, training opportunities, memberships, and conferences actually work. This guide is intended to help new clerks understand the basics of…
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Administrative Triage in the Clerk’s Office
There are times in court administration when the workload does not stop just because you are out of the office. Conferences, training, budget meetings, holidays, and even vacation days do not pause incoming emails, attorney requests, records requests, continuance requests, phone calls, filings, or operational responsibilities. In many clerk’s offices, the work simply piles up…
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Fix It Before Next Week: How We Reduced Court Day Confusion
Court day confusion usually is not caused by one major failure. Most of the time, it comes from dozens of small things that were never corrected: At some point, we realized we could not continue “working harder” every Wednesday and expect things to magically improve. We had to start building systems. That does not mean…
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Ethics in Everyday Court Work: Doing It the Right Way
Court ethics is not always one big dramatic moment. Most of the time, ethics in the clerk’s office shows up in the small decisions we make all day long: For court clerks, ethics is practical. It is not just something written in a policy manual. It is the way we protect the process, preserve public…
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Useful Organizational Tools for the Clerk’s Office
There are a lot of organizational apps and project-tracking platforms available now, and while many of them are marketed toward large businesses or technology companies, several can actually be very useful in a municipal court environment as well. This article is simply meant to share practical tools and ideas that may help another clerk or…
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How to Make Your Clerk Binder Actually Work for You
What to Add to Your Binder Sections 1. Add a “Quick Reference” Section (Front of Binder) This is huge for day-to-day use. Create a front section with: 👉 This becomes your flip-open-and-find-it-fast section. 2. Include Real Forms (Not Just Blank Ones) Don’t just store templates—add completed examples: 3. Add a “Problem Notes” Section This is…
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Build Your Clerk Binder Right the First Time
One of the best things you can do early on is set up a binder you can rely on. This is not just for notes—this becomes your working reference while you learn your court. Done right, it will save you time and keep you from feeling overwhelmed. 1. Start with the Right Binder Add: 👉…
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New Clerk Onboarding
Immediate First Steps (After You Are Sworn In) These are administrative items that need to be completed right away to ensure you are properly recognized and set up within the court system. 1. Oath of Office 2. Confirm Your Official Court Email is Active Use this email for: 👉 This ensures you do not miss:…
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Two Conferences. Two Purposes.
MMCCA Summer Conference Hosted by: Mississippi Municipal Court Clerks Association (MMCCA)Location: Golden Nugget Casino & Resort, Biloxi, MississippiWhen: Wednesday & Thursday of MML Week PurposePractical, day-to-day training focused on real clerk operations, workflow, and problem-solving. What to Expect Funding & TravelFunded by each municipality. Typical planning includes: Clerks typically travel the day before and return…
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10 Thing Every Court Clerk Should Do/Know
These points may seem simple, but most issues in a clerk’s office come back to one of these areas. 1. Learn Your Court’s Workflow First Understand how a case moves from start to finish in your court—not just in theory.If you don’t understand the flow, you will always feel behind. 2. Docket Everything — Every…
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Understanding SONAR in Municipal Court: What Clerks Need to Know
There has been a little confusion across courts regarding how cases appear in the SONAR registry and how non-adjudication dispositions are reflected in Driver Services records. This article is intended to provide a clear, practical explanation based on direct communication with Mississippi DPS Driver Services. The Core Issue Most confusion does not come from misunderstanding…
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The First 10 Things Every New Municipal Court Clerk Should Do
Stepping into the role of Municipal Court Clerk can feel overwhelming at first. The work moves quickly, the responsibility is significant, and there is a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time. Most new clerks describe their first few months as feeling like they are drinking from a fire hose. That’s…
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AI in the Clerk’s Office: A tool, Not a Shortcut
Artificial intelligence has received a great deal of attention in the legal community over the past few years. Much of that attention has focused on situations where attorneys relied on AI-generated legal research that contained inaccurate information, sometimes even citing court cases that did not exist. These incidents have raised concerns about how AI tools…