Zygmont Pines, Pa. Court Administrator, named to two national judicial organizations

Pennsylvania’s court administrator, Zygmont Pines, has been named president of the

Conference of State Court Administrators and vice chairman of the board of directors of the National Center for State Courts, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts announced on Aug. 2.

Pines, who was appointed as the commonwealth’s court administrator in 2000, had served as chief legal counsel for the AOPC from 1991 to 1999.

He also served as chief counsel to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Commission on Judicial Reform and he has authored various publications on criminal justice, appellate procedures, ethics and court security, according to an online biography.

Pines is currently a member of the United State Justice Department’s Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Board, and serves as co-chairman of the state Supreme Court’s Elder Law Task Force; the taskforce was the brainchild of Pines’.

Pines is a past member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control/Justice Department Task Force on Public Health and Emergency Preparedness.

He received the National Center for State Courts’ Warren E. Burger Award for Excellence in Court Administration back in 2010.

The NCSC bills itself as a nonprofit resource and information clearinghouse that dedicates itself toward promoting quality operating standards and increasing public trust and confidence in the justice system.

The Conference of State Court Administrators is comprised of the top judicial administrators in all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

Both of Pines’ new appointments are one-year terms.

“Zig Pines brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the state courts to the NCSC Board,” the organization’s president, Mary C. McQueen, said in a statement.  “His work in court security and judicial reform has made a significant difference not just in his state but nationally.”