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N.C. Bar Association Commissioned Study: Economic Impact of Court System is $460M

The North Carolina Court System generated more than $460 million in direct economic impact last year, according to a study commissioned by the North Carolina Bar Association.

The Economic Impact of the North Carolina Court System on the North Carolina Economy report also revealed that more than 6,000 jobs were supported by the court system in fiscal year 2013-14. Combined with indirect and induced values.

When also taking account indirect and induced values, the court system generated $890 million in total economic impact on the North Carolina economy and supported more than 9,000 North Carolina jobs.

“The study,” said NCBA president Catharine Arrowood, “reveals what we have known all along – our courts have an enormous impact on our economy and deserve adequate funding in order to serve the needs of North Carolina citizens and businesses.”

In addition to illustrating the court system’s positive impact, the study also shows the negative impact of $35 million in funding cuts over the past four years and the need for greater investment in updated court technology and business management software.

“We believe that if the Administrative Office of the Courts was better equipped to collect data,” Arrowood added, “it would enable legislators to make more informed decisions regarding funding of the courts. The fact that this data did not exist is one of the main reasons we commissioned this study.”

The study also underscores the NCBA’s longstanding advocacy role on behalf of the state judicial system.

The NCBA Foundation provided funding for the study, which was conducted by Micronomics, a Los Angeles-based economic research and consulting firm which has conducted similar studies in other states, and Dr. John Connaughton of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he serves as an economics professor and director of the Babson Capital/ UNC Charlotte Economic Forecast.

Copies of the survey have been provided to state legislators to serve as a resource during the ongoing budget negotiations and beyond. The NCBA is also making the study report available on its website: http://www.ncbar.org/media/499924/oga-report.pdf.

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Release from NCBA