Adjudication is the legal status that determines where official public notices can be published. Let’s discuss how adjudication works, how to manage it, and future trends to be aware of for anyone responsible for placing legally verified notices.
What is Adjudication?
Adjudication is the legal process by which a court formally recognizes a publisher, most often a newspaper, as qualified to run official public notices. Often, publishers must meet statutory requirements such as maintaining paid and general circulation, publishing at a set frequency, and operating continuously for a defined period. Once granted, adjudication authorizes a publisher to fulfill the legal obligation to inform the public.
At Column, we frequently receive requests to verify whether a publisher is “valid” or “runs” in a specific county, or to locate publishers within a county or city under tight deadlines.
Note: Adjudication is not the same as circulation. Circulation measures reach and frequency. Adjudication is a legal qualification, backed by specific court-issued documents, proving a publisher is authorized to carry certain notices. You can have one without the other.
How Publishers Become Adjudicated
Publishers should be able to provide a court order or judgment of adjudication as proof and, in some cases, appear on official court or county lists. Adjudication standards are set by law and enforced by government authorities, most often through the courts at the county level. In most states, county superior courts review applications and supporting evidence to confirm that a publisher meets the requirements.
Specifically in California, adjudication is primarily granted at the county level, but some municipalities have additional rules requiring city-level adjudication for certain notices.
For example, Los Angeles may require zoning or ordinance notices to appear in a publisher adjudicated for the city, not just the county. Smaller charter cities such as Monterey or Chico may also require city-level adjudication for certain notices, even if a county-adjudicated option exists.
Keeping track of these local rules and judicial orders can be challenging, and our goal at Column is to make that process easier for publishers and customers.
Managing Adjudication
Adjudication is not a one-time designation. Rules change, counties update their lists, new adjudications are granted, and some implicitly expire when conditions are no longer met. For publishers and customers working across multiple counties, staying current is no small task.
Customers such as attorneys, government agencies, and individuals placing notices usually need to know which publishers are adjudicated on a deadline.
While technically public record, adjudication information is often buried in court filings, outdated PDFs, or hard-to-navigate municipal websites. Leaving this to chance can cause notices to get placed in the wrong jurisdiction, causing delays, added costs, and damaged trust if they are challenged in court or rejected by regulators.
How Column Helps Manage Adjudication
We enable publishers on Column to set their adjudication counties or cities directly in their profile settings. Because adjudication status can change, settings can be updated at any time to reflect the latest court-recognized designations. For customers who need to place notices, the adjudication settings work dynamically with our standard location filters to ensure notices are matched with the right publishers from the start.
Additionally, through our nationwide placement service, we manage and collaborate heavily with publishers to place notices with the right adjudication to meet deadlines and customer needs.
The result is fewer compliance risks, fewer costly errors, and more confidence that every notice is placed correctly and on time.
Looking Ahead
Adjudication requirements were written for a print-first world, and many online-only publishers cannot be adjudicated under current laws. Hybrid publishers with both print and digital editions can maintain their print-based requirements, even if most readership is online. A growing number of states, such as New Jersey and Virginia, are starting to allow online-only publications to qualify, often with conditions like free public access, permanent archiving, and search functionality.
At the same time, more governments are adopting the ability to publish notices on their own official websites. Florida’s 2022 reforms allow certain notices to be posted online by the agency itself, and other states, including Iowa and Michigan, have considered similar measures.
At Column, we are closely monitoring the trend towards hybrid solutions where notices appear both on an official government site and in an adjudicated publication or centralized public notice portal. Our goal is to meet the standard of public notice compliance in all communities we serve by providing trusted software solutions, automated workflows, and a delightful user experience for everyone involved.