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Jay
Brozost, Lockheed Martin, is Chairman of the Board
The Board
of Directors recently elected Jay A. Brozost as Chairman of the Council
for Court Excellence. Mr. Brozost is the Vice President and General Counsel
for Washington Operations of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Read more...
Three
Honorees Celebrated at 15th Anniversary
Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner
This anniversary year,
we honored three shining examples of service:
Peter Edelman, a professor at Georgetown University Law School
and leader of the DC Access to Justice Commission, who has dedicated his
extraordinary career to ensuring justice for all; Mary Ann Luby,
who compassionately served the most disadvantaged residents of the District
for more than three decades, and whose death in November of 2010 was mourned
throughout the local justice and nonprofit communities; and Donald
Santarelli, an attorney now in private practice, who has led
an illustrious career in the law, holding a number of offices serving
the justice community in DC and at the national level.
A ceremony and celebration dinner was held at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
on Thursday, May 12, 2011.
Click here to read more about our annual Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner, and for a list of past honorees.
CCE
Honors the Legacy of our Founder Charles A. Horsky
The Council for Court Excellence gathered our Board and friends at the Supreme Court of the United States on October 19 to honor our founder Charles Horsky in a special evening hosted by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A program of keynote speakers celebrated his enduring vision for our organization and his many contributions to the local and federal justice system. This year marks what would have been Mr. Horsky's hundredth birthday. Read more...
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.
National
Center for State Courts Publishes Article
by CCE Executive Director June Kress
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) 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 in the DC Courts 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.
Council
for Court Excellence | T 202.785.5917 | F 202.785.5922 |