Driving Efficiency and Public Confidence: Integrating Quality Management Practices in the Federal Appellate Court System

Abstract

An analysis of federal appellate court case processing and quality management practices reveals that courts vary in their case processing times. This variation, when coupled with limited awareness and application of quality management practices, provides an opportunity for court leaders to integrate established quality management practice to improve the effectiveness of the federal appellate court system. From a review of practical applications of quality management methods at the Federal Circuit, this paper recommends that courts begin their quality journeys with the introduction of Lean Six Sigma practices followed by the adoption of the ASQ/ANSI G1 quality management standard. To support public accountability within the federal courts and long-term integration of quality practices to improve court performance, changes are needed with respect to the types of performance data that is collected, analyzed, and then made available to the public. This paper proposes a new circuit operational model scorecard and the establishment of national baseline performance targets based on case processing intervals, which can be used by both the public and federal court leaders to evaluate performance between the circuit courts, to encourage overall improved appellate court operations, and to support the continued public trust and confidence in the federal judiciary.  Dataset available at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/xz3xcdc8pt/1.

This paper is a revision of Perlow, Jarrett, Preserving the Public Trust: A Quality Management Framework for Federal Appellate Court Operations (September 1, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4560485 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4560485.

Keywords: quality management, court administration, government process improvement, government quality management