Recent News

"Hiring DC Residents with a Criminal Record Makes Sense," a program to educate attendees on local and federal laws that affect hiring practices, will be held on September 17, 8:00-10:00 am at PNC Bank, 800 17th Street, NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC (with a continental breakfast and networking from 8:00 to 8:30 am). Hosted and moderated by Michael Harreld, Regional President of PNC Bank, the program will include presentations from the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the DC Office on Returning Citizen Affairs, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and others. Harry Wingo, President & CEO of the DC Chamber of Commerce, will welcome attendees and commence the presentations.

Recently CCE participated in a roundtable discussion for a State Department-sponsored visiting delegation from Latin America touring the US to learn about the administration of justice. Executive Director, June Kress talked about the work of the Council for Court Excellence over the last 32 years, about our unique court and justice system structure in DC, and about how civil society can and should be engaged in improving the administration of justice.

CCE mourns the loss of longtime CCE Board Director Julian Riley Dugas who recently passed away of congestive heart failure on April 12, 2014. Mr. Dugas was someone whose name carried great weight in the District of Columbia because of the myriad of extraordinary contributions that he made to the city with more than 60 years as a lawyer, humanitarian, teacher and civil servant.

CCE, as part of our DC Prisoner Reentry Initiative, is considering holding an educational forum for the DC employer community about recent and current developments in law and policy about hiring people with criminal records who represent ten percent of the District's population.The survey will take less than 2 minutes to complete. We hope you'll consider completing the survey or forwarding to the person in your firm or company that manages the hiring process for both professionals and administrative personnel.

CCE received the exciting news last Wednesday that CCE's Jury Project, Changing Perceptions: Jury Service in the 21st Century, has been awarded a $56,000 grant from the City Fund, administered through the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Last November, over 300 applications were submitted to the City Fund with requests totaling more than $30 million. CCE joins 57 other organizations for the first round of grantmaking from the City Fund.

Theodore Whitehouse, CCE Board Director, Reentry Project Committee Chair, and partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher recently sat down for a one-on-one conversation with Tyrone Parker, CCE Executive Committee member, a member of CCE's Reentry and School Discipline project committees, and Executive Director of the Alliance of Concerned Men.

James D. Bishop, director of the Catholic Charities Legal Network of the Archdiocese of Washington, was named the winner of the 2014 Jerrold Scoutt Prize by the District of Columbia Bar Foundation. The prize is given out each year to a public-interest attorney who has devoted much of his or her career working with the District’s low-income residents, providing needed legal services with great compassion and proficiency.

The Council for Court Excellence is delighted to announce this year's recipients of the Justice Potter Stewart Award. Two awards will be presented this year, to Marc Fleischaker and Legal Counsel for the Elderly. A third award will also be presented to Pepco Holdings, Inc. in honor of their longstanding philanthropic efforts in DC. The honorees will be recognized at the 18th Annual Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner on May 8, 2014.

The Superior Court of the District of Columbia issued an administrative order on January 24, 2014 to release Practice Standards for Guardians ad Litem (GAL) in Custody and Related Consolidated Cases. These practice standards were developed by the Family Court Domestic Relations GAL Standards Committee in consultation with representatives from the bench, the bar, and local community-based organizations that provide legal representation in Family Court.

CCE's Board was treated to a special panel program on December 12th organized by the CCE Bench Bar Media Dialogue Project, entitled "Secret Courts, Secret Law." The panel discussed a wide range of thought-provoking questions, including under what circumstances are secret courts created in the US legal system? What are the unique challenges that arise with regard to litigating secret law or before secret courts? What might the public not appreciate about the costs of secret courts/secret law and are these costs unavoidable? Could secret courts be differently configured while still respecting the underlying justification of secrecy? How does precedent work in a system in which the rulings at issue are not publicly available? What are the broader impacts that secret courts and secret law have on our common law system? What lessons should we take away from the military commissions/FISA Court with regard to the desirability of secret law and secret courts? These were a selection of the interesting issues discussed. All in all, it was a well-received and informative program.

There was consensus among the groups testifying in support of the Post-Arrest Process Clarification Amendment Act of 2013, Bill #20-323, at a hearing before the DC Council Judiciary Committee on November 21. CCE, along with the DC Metropolitan Police Department, the DC Police Union, the DC Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the DC Office of the Attorney General, largely commented that CCE's report was "excellent" and provided needed clarity for police and citizens. The legislation was co-introduced by DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Tommy Wells, and co-sponsored by Councilmember Mary Cheh.

The Council for Court Excellence is pleased to present its Compliments and Complaints Guide. This guide gathers in one place information about how to submit compliments or comments and how to make and resolve complaints about any professional in the DC justice system. The information in this guide comes from sixteen courts and agencies in the District that provided details about their compliment and complaint referral process.