Courts

New Talk Conversation Announcement: What is the role of the courts in making social policy?

Submitted by Ms. JD

New Talk is a new online forum designed to tackle tough policy issues directly, with ongoing commentary from leading experts and policymakers on the frontline of said issues. The next question to be addressed by New Talk is, "What is the role of the courts in making social policy?" The conversation begins Tuesday, July 8th and runs through Thursday, July 10th.

Experts scheduled to participate in this next conversation include: Michael Traynor, President, American Law Institute; Lord Hoffman, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary; Kenneth Feinberg, Principal, The Feinberg Group; Theodore H. Frank, Director, AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest; Mark Geistfeld, Crystal Eastman Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; and Phillip Howard, founder of Common Good and New Talk.

Ms. JD encourages its readers to participate in the online conversation! Log on to www.newtalk.org to post your comments alonside the experts' dialog as the conversation unfolds. Ms. JD also encourages its readers to continue the discussion on Ms. JD after the conclusion of the New Talk conversation.

Ms. JD has, therefore, created a General Discussion forum post especially for this purpose. The forum topic can be found under the General Discussion category, entitled 'What is the role of the courts in making social policy?" So debate away!

Topic: Other Issues
Optional tags: policy, Judiciary, government, Courts

Introductory Courthouse Tours for Clerks and Young Lawyers (Seattle)

Start: 25 Jun 2008 - 8:30am

End: 25 Jun 2008 - 4:00pm

Timezone: US/Pacific

Where:

Seattle Courthouse, Seattle, WA

King County Superior Court would like to cordially invite and welcome young lawyers and summer law school students to observe the operations of the downtown Seattle King County Courthouse and the Regional Justice Center in Kent on Wednesday, June 25, 2008. On that day, a special tour will be conducted of the operations of the Superior court from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Optional tags: Courts, Events, Seattle

Playing "the gender card" in the courtroom

Submitted by Carol Simpson

This past week I attended court for the first time in my three years in law school. Actually attending a real court has not been part of any of my courses to date, so this was an event that was particularly interesting. I was attending an evidentiary hearing in federal court, after having written the analysis of an important change of facts in the case. The hearing was before a female judge, and both the plaintiffs’ attorneys are female, as well. When the defendant’s attorneys arrived, there were two men and one woman. It was obvious that their plan was to have the woman speak for the group. It was also obvious that she was the less-experienced attorney of the team, and her male colleagues essentially fed her arguments as the hearing progressed. While every young attorney must have her first chance at first chair, I couldn’t help but wonder if this strategy was playing “the gender card.”

Topic: Other Issues
Optional tags: trial lawyering, the gender card, Courts, courtroom

Impressive Progress Alongside Persistent Problems

Submitted by Lynn Hecht Schafran

In April the New York Committee on Women in the Courts celebrated twenty years of working to implement the recommendations of the New York Task Force on Women in the Courts. New York’s Chief Judge Judith Kaye encapsulated these two decades with a perfect aphorism, “Impressive Progress Alongside Persistent Problems” – an aphorism that captures the work not only of the New York Committee, but of every effort to achieve equality for women in the courts and the legal profession.