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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association American Judges Association 2015 Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association 51:3 (2015)- Whole Issue Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ajacourtreview "Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association 51:3 (2015)- Whole Issue" (2015). Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association. 526. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ajacourtreview/526 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the American Judges Association at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Court ReviewVolume 51, Issue 3 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN JUDGES ASSOCIATION TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORS BOOK REVIEW Judge Steve Leben Kansas Court of Appeals 90 Writing Like the Best Judges Professor Eve Brank Steve Leben University of Nebraska MANAGING EDITOR Charles F. Campbell National Center for State Courts ARTICLES ASSOCIATE EDITOR Justine Greve 94 Weddings, Whiter Teeth, Judicial-Campaign Speech, and More: Kansas Court of Appeals Civil Cases in the Supreme Court’s 2014-2015 Term EDITORIAL BOARD Todd E. Pettys Kelly Lynn Anders Kansas City, Missouri 106 Making Continuous Improvement a Reality: Judge Karen Arnold-Burger Kansas Court of Appeals Achieving High Performance in the Ottawa County, Michigan, Circuit and Probate Courts Pamela Casey, Ph.D. Brian J. Ostrom, Matthew Kleiman, Shannon Roth & Alicia Davis National Center for State Courts Judge B. Michael Dann National Institute of Justice 116 Implicit Bias and the American Juror Jennifer K. Elek & Paula Hannaford-Agor Judge Julie Kunce Field Fort Collins, Colorado Judge John Irwin Nebraska Court of Appeals DEPARTMENTS Judge Leslie G. Johnson American Institute for Justice 86 Editor’s Note Steven Lubet Northwestern University 87 President’s Column Judge Gregory E. Mize 88 Thoughts from Canada Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Neeley, Ph.D. 122 Crossword University of Nebraska 126 Notice of Proposed Bylaws Changes David Rottman, Ph.D. National Center for State Courts 128 The Resource Page Professor Alan Tomkins University of Nebraska Court Review THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN JUDGES ASSOCIATION Volume 51, Issue 3 2015 Court Review, the quarterly journal of the American EDITOR’S NOTE Judges Association, invites the submission of unso- e are trying out two new features in this issue, and we hope you licited, original articles, essays, and book reviews. enjoy them. Court Review seeks to provide practical, useful infor- mation to the working judges of the United States and First, you’ll find a law-related crossword puzzle on page 122. The W Canada. In each issue, we hope to provide information puzzle was written by Vic Fleming, a district judge in Little Rock, Arkansas. He that will be of use to judges in their everyday work, has been a district judge since 1996, teaches a seminar at the University of whether in highlighting new procedures or methods of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law (his alma mater) on law and lit- trial, court, or case management, providing substantive erature, and has written both legal humor columns and crossword puzzles for information regarding an area of law likely to be many years. He is willing to provide crossword puzzles for us in future issues encountered by many judges, or by providing back- ground information (such as psychology or other social as well. science research) that can be used by judges in their Second, you’ll find a new column, “Thoughts from Canada,” by Canadian work. Guidelines for the submission of manuscripts judge Wayne Gorman. He is a judge of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland for Court Review are set forth on page 115 of this issue. and Labrador, as well as an active member of the Court Review reserves the right to edit, condense, or Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges. reject material submitted for publication. We have nearly 200 Canadian members of the Advertising: Court Review accepts advertising for prod- American Judges Association; they find benefit in ucts and services of interest to judges. For informa- reading not only materials in Court Review that tion, contact Shelley Rockwell at (757) 259-1841. cover social-science topics (thus usually tran- scending national boundaries) but also discus- Cover photo, Mary S. Watkins (maryswatkins@ sions of legal issues as they are resolved in the mac.com). The cover photo is of the Old Quebec City Courthouse, which opened in 1887 and served as a United States. We think that our U.S. judges will courthouse for nearly a century before its present use also find interest in how Canadian courts resolve for the Quebec Ministry of Justice. similar issues, and Judge Gorman is willing to provide examples of that in each issue. ©2015, American Judges Association, printed in the Please let us know what you think of these United States. Court Review is published quarterly by new features—along with any other suggestions the American Judges Association (AJA). AJA members receive a subscription to Court Review. Non-member you may have for articles or authors or subjects you’d like to see. You can con- subscriptions are available for $35 per volume (four tact me (sleben56@gmail.com) or my coeditor, Eve Brank (ebrank2@unl.edu). issues per volume). Subscriptions are terminable at Our issue begins with Professor Todd Pettys’ annual review of the past Term’s the end of any volume upon notice given to the pub- United States Supreme Court civil cases. The civil cases were especially interest- lisher. Prices are subject to change without notice. ing this year, and Professor Pettys has done his usual masterful job of reviewing Second-class postage paid at Williamsburg, Virginia, them. If you have a chance, please thank him for his contribution. and additional mailing offices. Address all correspon- dence about subscriptions, undeliverable copies, and Our second article looks at efforts to improve court performance in the courts change of address to Association Services, National of Ottawa County, Michigan. Most courts could benefit from a similar project, so Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185- we think you’ll find it of interest. 4147. Points of view or opinions expressed in Court Our third article considers whether it might be possible to lessen the effects Review are those of the authors and do not necessarily of implicit bias on jurors. Researchers at the National Center for State Courts represent the positions of the National Center for State conducted an experiment to see whether a specific jury instruction about the Courts or the American Judges Association. ISSN: 0011-0647. issue might be helpful. Finally, we have a review of Ross Guberman’s new book on judicial writing, Cite as: 51 Ct. Rev. ___ (2015). Point Taken: How to Write Like the World’s Best Judges. We found the book worth reading for any judge who writes opinions. (After the book review was prepared, we noticed that the Oxford University Press had purchased an ad for the book in this issue too. The ad was purchased through our association staff; the editors of Court Review are not involved in selling ads for the issues, and we don’t make any editorial decisions based on ad sales.)—SL 86 Court Review - Volume 51 President’s Column Brian MacKenzie n my first column as president of the American Judges position paper and benchbook on the topic of the procedurally Association (AJA), I wrote about how our organization was fair court. Iworking to improve itself. In the time since, I believe that This year, former AJA president Elliott Zide led an effort to effort has proven to be successful. revise our bylaws. In this issue of Court Review, there is a dis- The growing number of Canadian judges in the AJA is a cussion of these proposed bylaws changes. (See pp. 126-27.) reflection of our commitment to representing all judges across They are designed to modernize the AJA’s governing structure North America. In this issue, you will see a new column from so that it is better able to withstand challenges in the 21st cen- Canadian judge Wayne Gorman with the heading “Thoughts tury. The new bylaws will be voted upon by the membership at from Canada.” He has provided some very practi- the Seattle conference, so I hope you will take a cal advice on the issue of recusal, along with an moment to read about these proposed changes. overview of Canadian recusal rules. Even if you’re not going to be at the conference, It is not simply an influx of new Canadian please let us know what you think. judges that has fueled the renewed growth of our If you are thinking about attending the con- organization. Rather, the AJA has worked hard to ference, it will be held October 4-7 at the Shera- spread its message that it is the Voice of the Judi- ton in downtown Seattle. This year the AJA has ciary®, with goals to reflect the diversity of judges partnered with the Washington State Judiciary across North America while keeping its commit- and the National Association of State Judicial ment to Making Better Judges®. Educators (NASJE). Bringing together three organizations into As part of that effort, this year we began publishing a series one conference was challenging and exhilarating. Every year I of email broadcasts entitled “The Rundown” in an effort to look forward to the AJA conference, but as a result of these explain how the AJA represents its members. If you haven’t joint efforts, the scope of the offerings is truly exceptional.