The study was designed to provide a picture of the pace of criminal and civil litigation in these courts and to analyze changes that have taken place in the 1976-1985 period. Results show that while the volume of cases in most of these courts has increased, sometimes by as much as 54 percent, felony case processing times in some courts have been dramatically reduced through changes in the local legal culture and careful application of management principles. Caseflow management has become an important and effective approach to reducing court delay. Successful caseflow management appears to require a comprehensive case processing system that identifies and maintains information on all cases from entry into the process to disposition. Open and regular communication of this information to all participants and sound monitoring of the court's caseflow management also are key. Understanding and adoption of procedures to reduce delay are enhanced by training. Courts successful in reducing delay also have strong and attentive leadership at all levels based on the understanding and cooperation of prosecutors, defense, local bar, and the media. Five of the most successful courts, described in case studies, also established and enforced trial time standards; and the greater the emphasis on these standards, the greater was the change in processing times. Supplemental research information is appended. 20 endnotes.