Local and State Trial Court Administrators 
Local and state trial court administrators oversee the administration of the courts. These administrators’ 
responsibility includes: hiring and training court personnel (clerks, judicial assistants, bailiffs), ensuring 
that the court caseloads are efficiently processed, keeping records, sending case files to reviewing courts, 
ensuring that local court rules are being implemented, and working with the local and state bar associations 
to establish effective communications to promote the expedient resolutions of civil and criminal cases. 
Indigency Verification Officers 
The Indigency Verification Officer (IVO) is a court employee who investigates defendants’ financial 
status and determines whether they meet the criteria for court-appointed counsel. More than 75% of 
all individuals accused of a crime qualify as indigent.  How poor a defendant must be to qualify for a 
court-appointed attorney varies from place to place, and each IVO uses a screening device that takes 
into consideration the cost of defense in the locality as well as defendant’s financial circumstances. One 
difficulty in qualifying for a court-appointed attorney is having equity in a home that cannot be easily sold 
quickly enough to provide resources for the defendant to hire an attorney.  Another difficulty for indigency 
verification officers is getting the information needed from defendants who may be suffering from mental 
health issues. 
Bailiffs 
Bailiffs are the court staff responsible for courtroom security. Bailiffs are often local sheriff deputies or 
other law enforcement officers (or sometimes former officers), but they can also be civilians hired by the 
court. Sometimes, courts will use volunteer bailiffs. Bailiffs work under the supervision of the trial court 
administrator. During court proceedings, bailiffs or clerks call the session to order, announce the entry 
of the judge, make sure that public spectators remain orderly, keep out witnesses who might testify later 
(if the judge orders them excluded upon request of either party), and attend to the jurors. As courtroom 
security becomes a bigger concern, law enforcement officers are increasingly used as bailiffs, and they 
are responsible for the safety of the court personnel, spectators, witnesses, and any of the parties. In some 
communities, law enforcement bailiffs may transport in-custody defendants from the jail to the courthouse 
and back. In most jurisdictions today, bailiffs screen people for weapons and require them to silence cell 
phones before allowing them to enter the courtroom. 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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