New Hampshire Judicial Branch Announces New Leadership For Offices of Justice Data and Statistics, Access and Community Engagement

Concord, NH – The Judicial Branch has added two managers to lead new initiatives related to justice data collection, analysis, and reporting, access to justice, and community engagement.

Irena Goddard joins the Judicial Branch in the role of Manager of the Office of Access and Community Engagement where she will spearhead technology initiatives aimed at providing transparent and easily understandable entry points to the justice process for all residents of New Hampshire, with an overall goal of ensuring access to justice for self-represented litigants. Goddard will be overseeing e-Court, a program designed to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of the case lifecycle for the NHJB and parties involved, while appropriately protecting confidentiality, and driving operational efficiency. Irena will also lead the implementation of new federally funded Access-to-Justice (A2J) initiatives. These include simplifying court forms into natural language, enhancing cost-effective language translation technology, and advancing virtual service centers and court pathfinders to facilitate engagement and navigation for self-represented litigants. Goddard, who grew up in Czechoslovakia, brings extensive experience from the private sector, specializing in data systems, fiscal management, and project management.

Anthony Lindsay has joined the Judicial Branch as its first Justice Data and Statistics Manager. He will lead the process of collecting and analyzing data generated across the New Hampshire court system with the goal of informing Judicial Branch policy. Lindsay comes to the Judicial Branch while finishing a doctorate in international relations from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, with a specialization in predictive analytics. Lindsay has also worked as a researcher and data scientist for both UNC Chapel Hill and the private sector.  He has considerable experience analyzing data and building innovative predictive modeling platforms, winning a highly competitive grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a forecasting engine to predict global conflict with a high level of accuracy.

“We are very encouraged to be able to recruit top talent from across the country to enhance our ability to carry out our mission for the people of New Hampshire,” said Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon J. MacDonald. “Addressing the access-to-justice gap for those who interact with our court system without legal representation is a priority of the Judicial Branch.  And, having a strong data and analytics function is essential to identifying opportunities to improve our service to the state.  We look forward to benefitting from the skills and expertise of Irena and Anthony.” 

Both managerial positions will be housed in the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) located in Concord under the direction of AOC Director Dianne Martin. The Administrative Office of the Courts was established in 1983 to provide operational support to New Hampshire’s unified court system in its constitutional responsibility to provide for the administration of justice. The Director of the AOC is responsible for the preparation and administration of the Judicial Branch’s budget. The Director also serves as a liaison between the Judicial Branch and the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, law enforcement, and members of the public. The AOC is responsible for the Judicial Branch’s statewide functions of audit, communications, facilities, fiscal, legal, human resources, information technology, and security.