The Court newly created Court Education Institute is working to expand and enhance existing programs as well as offer completely new in-person and online programs, which will include a strong leadership track to provide opportunities for judicial branch personnel growth in their existing roles, while creating a path for future leadership within the judiciary.

eLearning

The Court Education Institute plans to launch an online learning management system by the end of the fiscal year, which will allow participants to enroll in courses, track their progress, and build their own learning plan based on individual continuing education requirements and areas of interest.

Current Person & Live Programs

CEI offers in-person and online educational programs such as required annual and biennial training for New Mexico state and municipal judges and court staff; as well as topic specific seminars, workshops, video conferences, and webcasts.

Annual and Biennial Programs

These programs are required by the New Mexico Supreme Court. You are required to attend the annual training conducted by CEI for your specific jurisdiction each year. If you cannot attend your annual training, please follow the Excusal Procedures. Required programs generally include specific substantive and procedural areas of law such as legal updates, ethics, professionalism, case flow management, evidence, and topics such as DWI, domestic violence, legal writing, and technology in the courts.

Our programs include:

Judges 

  • Judicial Conclave
  • Magistrate Judges’ Conference
  • Municipal Judges’ Conference
  • Probate Judges’ Conference

New Judges 

  • New District Court Judges’ Training
  • New Magistrate Judges’ Training
  • New Municipal Judges’ Training
  • Mentorship Programs

Court Staff

  • District Court Staff Seminars
  • Municipal Court Staff Conference

External Programs

National Judicial College

CEI is committed to providing high-quality judicial training and education opportunities to judges across the state. As funding allows, CEI offers funding and support to judges participating in a wide range of in-person and online programs offered by the National Judicial College.

LANL Judicial Science School 

Developed through close collaboration between the Laboratory’s top science, engineering, and legal professionals, this week-long course represents a complete primer on the scientific method that is tailored for judges. The purpose of the course is to provide the judges with an understanding of the methodology of modern scientific research, and the role of uncertainty inherent in all measurements, models, and predictions. The goal is to offer the knowledge and tools that will better prepare judges to evaluate whether scientific arguments and methodologies meet threshold requirements for admissibility in the courtroom. Learn more here.

If you are interested in attending external programs, please email us at courteducation@nmcourts.gov.

Topic-Specific Programs

These are optional programs on hot topics and are generally shorter than our required programs. Most are either one-day regional seminars and workshops or lunchtime video conferences and webcasts. Programs include DWI and Domestic Violence Regional Seminars, Faculty Development Workshop, Law and Literature Discussion, Judicial Security and Advanced Issues on Self-Represented Litigants webcasts, and New Magistrate Judges RoundTable video conference.