April 2022 Newsletter
April 2022 Newsletter
CCE Adopts its 2022-2024 Strategic Plan At its December 2021 meeting, the CCE Board of Directors formally adopted our 2022-2024 Strategic Plan. The new and ambitious Strategic Plan will help CCE build upon our legacy of impactful work, while clarifying our organizational identity and right sizing our capacity. We are also proud that, for the first time, CCE will approach our internal and external priorities with an intentional focus on race equity. Within the Strategic Plan, these goals are divided into six pillars, each with specific outcomes, measures, and steps for completion. With CCE’s 40th Anniversary this year, we have a unique opportunity to lean into our organization’s values and strengths to make progress toward our vision of a justice system in the District that equitably serves its people and continues to be a model for creating stronger and more prosperous communities.
New Report on Probate Reform On February 9, CCE and the D.C. Access to Justice Commission (ATJC) published Strengthening Probate Administration in the District of Columbia, which makes recommendations focused on unrepresented parties going through probate court. This report is timely, and much needed, especially considering that in 2017, 35% of the large estate cases and 97% of the small estate cases in D.C. Superior Court involved self-represented individuals. In January 2020, CCE and ATJC formed an expert Estate Administration Working Group, comprised of experienced probate lawyers, public interest advocates, independent subject-matter experts, Superior Court judges and the Register of Wills, to address the challenges faced by self-represented individuals during probate. The Estate Administration Working Group conducted research into other jurisdictions, case reviews, and interviews with self-represented individuals, D.C. probate court employees, and legal practitioners and ultimately makes recommendations on 20 different topic areas to strengthen probate processes for everyone and increase access to justice for low- and moderate-income people. Created with support from the State Justice Institute, the report includes recommendations on expanding community education on estate planning and probate administration; simplifying transfers of certain property and notice requirements; increasing access to self-help materials and legal advice; and adjusting levels for allowances, reimbursements, and small estates; and more. Making an Impact! CCE testified before D.C. Council TEN TIMES at 2022 Performance Oversight and Budget Hearings! You can read CCE’s testimony here.
Celebrating the 25th Annual Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner in May This year, CCE will host the 25th Annual Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner on May 25, 2022. We are delighted to honor the ACLU National Prison Project, Covington & Burling LLP, and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia for their representation of the plaintiffs in Jerry M. v. District of Columbia, a multi-decade, transformative class action lawsuit regarding the conditions in the District’s juvenile detention facilities. Benjamin F. Wilson, former Chairman of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., will also receive a 2022 award for his continued service on the Judicial Nomination Commission for the District of Colombia, and his many other contributions to justice in D.C. Because we are in a smaller venue for the Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner this year, space is limited. Pleaseemail Sarah Baczewski if you would like to join the waiting list to purchase tickets, subject to availability. Proof of vaccination will be required for all attendees. Learn more about the event's COVID-19 protocols here. CCE Welcomes New Senior Staff Members CCE is very excited to welcome Danielle Burs and Jennifer Ubiera as Senior Policy Counsels. Ms. Burs is the staff lead for CCE’s Civil Justice Committee. Immediately before coming to CCE, Ms. Burs worked as Counsel at DC Appleseed where she analyzed research and managed projects regarding COVID-19, affordable housing, HIV/AIDS and other D.C. democracy and justice related projects. Ms. Ubiera joins as the staff lead on our Youth Justice and Justice Education Committees. Prior to coming to CCE, she worked at Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative where she represented youth accused of committing delinquent acts and advocated for solutions regarding youth justice. In their first few months at CCE, Ms. Burs and Ms. Ubiera have already taken on new projects, testified before D.C. Council, helped their committees begin developing updated Program Plans, and more. CCE looks forward to seeing what else they will accomplish! Pride in Prior Collaborations with Newly Appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson CCE congratulates Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former CCE Board Director, on her historic accomplishment of being the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Jackson participated in several CCE projects over the years, most notably serving as Co-Chair of the D.C. Jury Project, which produced 2015’s Jury Service Revisited: Upgrades for the 21st Century. As Justice Jackson and Co-Chair Irv Nathan wrote in their introductory note, the goal of their work was to “make the system more efficient for jurors, judges and litigants; to foster understanding regarding the importance of jury service in our community; and ultimately, to increase satisfaction with the fairness and efficacy of the jury system on the part of all who come in contact with it.” Justice Jackson also stars in the fictional trial featured in CCE’s School Jury Education Program video: Justice in Action: You be the Jury. For 20 years, CCE Board leaders and local judges have visited D.C. public school classrooms to present the School Jury Education Program and train tomorrow’s jurors, while fostering positive interactions between the District’s youth and members of our judiciary. We are confident that future students will be particularly excited to see newly-appointed Justice Jackson appearing as the judge in their own mock jury deliberations!
Coming Soon! Later this month, CCE will publish D.C.’s Justice Systems Overview 2021, which will provide a data-forward look at both the challenges and developments in D.C.’s criminal legal system over the last year. This report will build off of D.C.’s Justice Systems Overview 2020.
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