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Kathleen Walsh Carr is elected Chair of the Board of Directors

The CCE Board of Directors elected Kathleen Walsh Carr, President of Cardinal Bank Washington, to the position of Chair in the semi-annual Board meeting held at Jones Day law firm on Wednesday June 16.

14th Annual Justice Potter Stewart Awards

The Council for Court Excellence is delighted to announce the honorees for this year's Justice Potter Stewart Award, two shining examples of service in our justice community: Pauline Schneider of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and Rainey Ransom Brandt, Special Counsel to the Chief Judge of the DC Superior Court. The awards were presented in a ceremony on May 12, 2010 at the US Chamber of Commerce. Read more in the latest edition of our newsletter.

Click here to read more about our annual Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner, and for a list of past honorees.

Hon. Kathy Patterson completes term as Interim Chair

Kathy rose to the occasion when our former Chair, Marie Johns, was nominated by President Obama to a position in the Small Business Administration, and had to resign from the Board. As the Nominating Committee, led by Ron Jessamy, began the search for a new leader, Kathy graciously agreed to serve in the meantime. She hosted the Justice Potter Stewart Dinner in May, alongside President Earl Silbert. In her leadership role, Kathy has assisted in CCE’s administrative matters and our membership efforts as we advanced these ongoing initiatives. Always the thoughtful and engaged Board member, Kathy has had a meaningful impact in her role as Chair of the Board. We are grateful for her leadership.

Kathy Patterson has served as Senior Officer for Government Relations at The Pew Center on the States since January 2009 where she manages federal policy advocacy across the Center's children's campaigns. She joined Pre-K Now in March 2007 as Federal Policy Director after serving 12 years as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia, representing Ward 3 from 1995 to 2007. While on the Council, Kathy focused on fiscal responsibility, stronger public schools, and accountability from District government officials. She served as chair of the Committee on Government Operations from 1997 through 2000, the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary from January 2001 through 2004, and finally the Committee on Education, Libraries, and Recreation.

Originally from California, Kathy came to the District in January 1977 to serve as Washington correspondent for The Kansas City Star. She later worked as Communications Director for the American Public Welfare Association. She holds a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a masters degree in English literature from Georgetown University. Kathy has two grown children and lives in the District of Columbia.

Kathy Patterson has been a civic member of the Council for Court Excellence Board of Directors since June, 2005 and has served on the Executive Committee since June, 2009. In her capacity as chair of the Judiciary Committee, she served ex-officio as a member of the CCE Board for a number of years. She has also been a member of CCE's Resource Development Committee and has worked on a number of the Council's projects. During her DC Council tenure, CCE worked very closely with her on the establishment of the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).

New Probate Guides Published

CCE has released updatedpublic resources for probate procedures: When Someone Dies: A Non-Lawyer's Guide to Probate in Washington, DC, and the Personal Affairs Record Book. These publications have been our most popular education booklets since they were first released in 1994. Generous underwriting for these new publications was provided by the GEICO Philanthropic Foundation. These free community guides are available through our website, or by calling our offices at 202.785.5917.

D.C. Commercial Litigation Survey

If you are a litigator that has had a commercial case in local or federal court in the District of Columbia in the past three years, please take two minutes to provide your views on the commercial litigation process in D.C. Your input is very important to us!

National Center for State Courts Publishes Article
by CCE Executive Director

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently published an article by CCE Executive Director June B. Kress in the NCSC's annual Trends Report. As part of the report chapter exploring court innovations to consider in a tight economy, the article explores how nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organizations like the Council for Court Excellence can support initiatives of the Court in improving court operations and the administration of justice. Read the article, titled "Think Outside the Court: How Nonprofit Organizations Can Benefit Court Systems During Times of Economic Uncertainty," here.

Handbook for Journalists on the Courts in D.C. Published

The Council for Court Excellence has published the Journalists’ Handbook to the Courts in the District of Columbia, in print and online. The Handbook is designed to be a comprehensive and easy-to-use reference for those who report on, or who are interested in learning more about, the local and federal courts in the District of Columbia. The Handbook discusses observing court proceedings, accessing court records, technology, gag orders, interviewing judges, and other topics. It contains key court and agency contact information, journalist FAQs, and a glossary of legal and court terminology. The original press release may be found here (.pdf). The Handbook is a free community publication.

Generous support for the Journalists’ Handbook to the Courts in the District of Columbia was provided by the State Justice Institute, the Philip L. Graham Fund, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, Williams & Connolly LLP, Troutman Sanders LLP, and Ross, Dixon & Bell LLP. We are grateful to these underwriters for making this project possible.

First Guide to DC's Juvenile Justice System Published

The Council for Court Excellence recently published a Guide to the DC Juvenile Justice System, in English and Spanish. The guide is the first written roadmap for the general public about how the DC juvenile justice system operates, how a case moves from arrest to discharge, what roles various government and non-governmental agencies and individuals play, and what rights victims of juvenile crime have.

“Last year nearly 3,400 youth were prosecuted in the DC Superior Court’s Juvenile Court,” said Robert Spagnoletti, the former DC Attorney General who led the committee that produced the guide. “For these youth and their families, the system has been utterly bewildering. They have had to rely on information gained in a haphazard fashion and often by word-of-mouth. This has seriously compromised their ability to represent their interests at a very critical time. The information in this guide will be a great help to youth and their families, but it will be just as important to victims of juvenile crime, who also need to know how things work.”

Marie Johns, the Council for Court Excellence’s former Board Chair, explained “When our board decided to focus on improving juvenile justice, we found very quickly that almost no one could explain to us how the system works. That convinced us that our first major juvenile project should be this guide – to bring some transparency to the system.”

The Council for Court Excellence released the Guide at a press conference featuring representatives of several of the DC agencies responsible for the juvenile justice system: Robert Hildum, director of the Public Safety Division of the DC Attorney General’s Office; Michael Satin, supervising attorney in the juvenile section of the Public Defender Service for DC; Judge William Jackson, presiding judge of the DC Superior Court Family Court; and Vincent Schiraldi, who at the time held the position of director of the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

The Guide to the DC Juvenile Justice System was funded by grants from the State Justice Institute, the Moriah Fund, the Herb Block Foundation, the Philip L. Graham Fund, the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the George Preston Marshall Foundation, the Mary and Daniel Loughran Foundation, the Dimick Foundation, and the Women’s Bar Association Foundation; with in-kind support from the DC Bar Pro Bono Program.

Free copies of the English Guide and the Spanish Guía may be obtained by calling our offices at 202.785.5917, or by ordering copies on our website.

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