Court clerks serve an important role in the operation of the court system in Tennessee. Clerks must attend each session of court with all the papers in the cases on the docket and must administer the oaths to parties and witnesses who testify in a case.

Clerks usually keep minutes of the court in a well-bound book, but may keep this information in the form of a legible computer printout, as long as the Clerk maintains the computer printout as a permanent record. In addition, information required to be kept as a record by any government official may be maintained on CD-ROM disks instead of bound books or paper records.

Because court clerks deal with voluminous paperwork, the storage and retention of documents are important considerations. When a case is appealed from a court of record, the clerk compiles the record (papers) needed for the appeal, and it is extremely important that the records of the clerk's office be well-organized and accurate.

Clerks maintain the rule docket and an execution docket, which holds all court judgments or decrees are entered in order of rendition by the court and in which all receipts and disbursements in a case are entered. Clerks also maintain indexes for all books and dockets that are kept by the office.

Clerks collect:

• Clerk's fees
• County expense fees
• Criminal injuries compensation tax
• Fines
• Funds for the impaired driver's trust fund
• Misdemeanant jail per diems
• Sheriff's fees
• State and county litigation taxes
• Tennessee Bureau of Investigation fees
• Witness fees and other items of court costs

Clerks prepare bills of costs in cases, account for these monies, and make collection efforts when these amounts are unpaid.