PA Courts' 2012 Calendars & Holidays

On December 27, 2011, the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania posted its chart of County Holidays for 2012 (PDF, 2 pages), which summarizes legal and operating holidays designated by counties for the various courthouses in the Commonwealth.  This is a most useful, even essential, chart.  It completes the posting of all Pennsylvania court calendars for 2012.

The chart appeared on the website for Pennsylvania courts, operated by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), which increasingly offers online resources essential to interaction with the Commonwealth's legal system, as summarized in its Web Portal webpage:

The AOPC’s Unified Judicial System web portal site has recently been redesigned to provide more useful information in an easier-to-navigate format. All aspects of the site, including the look and feel and the technology upon which the site is based, were reprogrammed.

Both public and secure information is available on this site. Secure information is available through specialized e-services for users with a secure login. Approval for these services must be granted by a county clerk of court or district court administrator.

Listed below are some of the e-services available to users:

• Web Docket Sheets provide access to search, view and print the docket sheets for Pennsylvania’s Appellate Courts, Criminal Courts of Common Pleas, Magisterial District Courts and the Philadelphia Municipal Court
• Statewide Warrants provides access to view warrants generated from the Common Pleas Criminal Court Case Management System (CPCMS) and the Magisterial District Judge Management System (MDJS)
• The Calendar Schedule [Criminal Courts of Common Pleas and Magisterial District Courts] provides access to search, view and print case events scheduled in the Common Pleas Criminal Court Case Management System (CPCMS)
• The DA Link application is a secure web service which provides Pennsylvania's district attorneys the ability to construct criminal Informations online and submit them electronically to the Courts of Common Pleas
• The County Court Calendar provides access to view calendars prepared and submitted by participating counties
• Local Rules provides access to search, view and print active Local Rules of Court. The site is currently limited to the local rules mandated by Rules of Civil Procedure 239.1 et seq. [Links, italics, & paragraphing added]

Some of these links are secured to specific groups of users in the court system or law enforcement, while other resources are made available publicly, such as the Public Calendar Schedule, explained on the website.

The AOPC website also lists or links calendars for Pennsylvania appellate courts and their support offices in 2012, as follows:

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania:

• 2012 Sessions Calendar
• 2012 Duty Assignment Schedule for Emergecny Petitions
• 2012 Holiday Calendar

Superior Court of Pennsylvania:

• 2012 Argument Panel Sessions
• 2012 Holiday Calendar

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania:

• 2012 Sessions Calendar

One more tip:  Attorneys licensed in Pennsylvania should create a personal account on the AOPC website to interact on law license matters.

Personalized AOPC accounts are also available to the pubic for informational purposes.