Annual Report to Stakeholders 2020 WORKING the PROBLEMS
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Annual Report to Stakeholders 2020 WORKING THE PROBLEMS f you’ve seen the movie Apollo 13, you probably recall the scene in which Gene Kranz, the chief flight director in Mission Control, played by Ed BOARD OF TRUSTEES Harris, overhears a NASA director say that the explosion aboard the Chair Hon. Christopher T. Whitten Command Module could be the worst disaster NASA has ever experienced. Chair-Elect Alan R. Brayton, Esq. I“With all due respect,” Kranz says, “I believe this is going to be our finest hour.” Treasurer Hon. Leslie A. Hayashi (Ret.) So it was for The National Judicial College in 2020. Secretary Ann Thornton Field, Esq. In early March, it was announced that the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the Immediate Past Chair Peter Bennett, Esq. cancellation of the College’s principal activity – in-person classes – through June 20. Hon. Mary-Margaret Anderson (Ret.) Ms. Norma Barnes-Euresti, Esq. Eventually, the plug was pulled on all in-person instruction for the rest of the year. Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin, Esq. A disaster. Hon. Margarita Bernal (Ret.) Like the resourceful engineers and technicians at Mission Control, however, the Mr. Edward R. Blumberg, Esq. NJC team didn’t panic or go home. They worked the problem. Ms. Pamela A. Bresnahan, Esq. Online instruction went into hyperdrive and found judges eager for instruction, Hon. Toni E. Clarke (Ret.) advice, interaction. A webinar on Lessons Learned from Around the World About Mr. Cliff Edwards, Esq. Managing Courts in a Pandemic drew more than 1,200 judges and other court Mr. Kim Dean Hogrefe, Esq. Mr. Robert Hunter, Esq. personnel from more than 50 countries. The previous record for an NJC webinar Mr. Robert L. Parks, Esq. was around 400. A series of Conversations on Racial Justice, launched after the Ms. Darcee Siegel, Esq. police killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed, also drew huge virtual Ms. Angelina Tsu, Esq. crowds. Ms. Sandra S. Yamate, Esq. What started as a disaster of a year turned into the all-time record year for enroll- EMERITUS TRUSTEES ment of nearly 23,000. That was more than double the enrollment in a typical year. Ms. Marybel Batjer Like surgical advances pioneered in wartime M*A*S*H units, we learned how to Hon Janet Berry (Ret.) do things differently during this crisis, in some ways better. The remote communi- Hon. Sophia H. Hall cation necessitated by a quarantine produced a new normal for business, education Mr. William Neukom, Esq. and many other fields. The College did not merely survive a crisis, it improved. Mr. Philip G. Satre, Esq. Thank you to the many friends, old and new, who donated time and treasure Mr. Mark Tratos, Esq. during an hour of need and helped it become, arguably, our finest hour. As we PRESIDENT EMERITUS reflect on the lessons learned and reset for the next normal, your continued partner- Hon. William F. Dressel (Ret.) ship is vital in fulfilling our mission of making the world a more just place. Watch a 4-minute review of 2020 at the NJC at judges.org/2020_Year_in_Review_Video Hon. Benes Z. Aldana (Ret.) Hon. Christopher T. Whitten President Chair, Board of Trustees ANNUAL REPORT TO STAKEHOLDERS, 2020 THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL COLLEGE 1 Thank you for your continued support of state court judges who labor to administer justice throughout our country. That“ work is more critical now than ever in this time of dramatic stress and change. Keep up the good work. NEWS — Senior Judge Wally Senyk of the Fergus Falls, Minnesota, District Court. He participated in the Core Skills for Judges Webinar Series ” by the American Association for Justice The event also yielded a follow-up white Anticipating legal challeng- Robert L. Habush Endowment, the paper on the science behind implicit bias es to the 2020 presidential International Academy of Trial Lawyers and how judges and others can mitigate election Foundation, ABOTA, and the ABA the effects of bias in jury trials. In the final days of a contentious presi- Section of Litigation. dential election campaign, the College in- Juries exist to weigh evidence and ren- vited three of the nation’s leading experts der just decisions. But jurors are only hu- Payant Award goes to a judge who brings humor to class on election law to share their concerns man, and research confirms that all people in a webinar, Election Law and the Role of possess biases that they may not even The 2020 V. Robert Payant Judges. know they have. This national symposium Award for Faculty Excel- More than 170 judges and legal counsel was organized to look at what our legal lence, the College’s highest registered to hear Erwin Chemerinsky, system can and should do to protect jury teaching honor, went to dean of the University of California verdicts from the influence of unconscious Vermont judge David T. Berkeley School of Law; Lisa Marshall or implicit bias. Suntag. Manheim, the Charles I. Stone Associate Nearly 130 judges, attorneys, court A Superior Court judge in Professor of Law at the University of personnel and other system players heard Windham County who took Washington School of Law; and Daniel keynote speakers Jeff Rachlinksi, Henry active/retired status in 2015, Judge Suntag P. Tokaji, the Fred W. & Vi Miller Dean Allen Mark Professor of Law at Cornell has been a member of the NJC faculty More than 750 judges from coast to coast (not all shown) registered for the rapid-response webinar A Judge’s Role in a Pandemic. and Professor of Law at the University of Law School, and Robbin Chapman, since 2004. His courses are known for associate dean of diversity, inclusion and their use of videos, cartoons and music. Recordings of the programs have since justice system professionals. The sessions Wisconsin Law School. belonging at Harvard’s Kennedy School of For many years he has been among the Unexpected dividend of the been viewed thousands of times. covered a wide range of topics, including Manheim noted that the Supreme Management. top five faculty members in terms of hours pandemic: record-setting Four courses that had been scheduled implicit bias, systemic racism, federal Court in recent years had signaled a reluc- of teaching service donated to the NJC. enrollment to be presented in person – Administrative Indian policy and access to water, artificial tance to allow courts to police elections. “His sense of humor brings joy to the During the worst pandemic in more than Law: Fair Hearing, Judicial Writing, Civil intelligence, and bias. “If (courts) won’t exercise judicial review classroom – even when he’s discussing dif- a century, the NJC did far more than sur- Mediation, General Jurisdiction, and Special Those discussions culminated in a (of election rules) in a meaningful way, ficult topics,” said William Brunson, the vive. Enrollment totaled nearly 23,000, Court Jurisdiction: Advanced – were con- February 2021 Racial Justice Roundtable where are we headed?” she asked. College’s director of special projects, cus- more than double the previous record. verted to an online format. The first such hosted by the NJC and the National Chemerinsky expressed deep concern tom courses and international programs. COVID-19 precautions forced the course, Administrative Law Fair Hearing, Center for State Courts that included over several potential problems, one of Judge Suntag has presided over cancellation of 80 percent of the College’s was taught by 10 faculty and seven group representatives of nearly every national ju- which was, “What if President Trump los- criminal, family and civil dockets as well courses that had been scheduled to be facilitators, including four past honorees dicial organization. More than 760 judges es and says, ‘I believe it was all a result of as multijurisdictional rural courts. He presented in person. But faculty and staff of the Payant Award for Excellence. The and other court personnel participated. fraud and I’m not going to leave office.’” helped create and presided over the first quickly pivoted to providing an online faculty worked with 54 participants from During 2020 the College raised more Tokaji, from the swing state of integrated domestic violence docket in experience for judges hungry for connec- Alaska to the Virgin Islands. than $100,000 for a Fund for Racial Wisconsin, said, “The prayer of election Vermont and has written for the College tion and resources while most courthous- Among tuition-based courses alone, the Justice to support additional program- officials (in Wisconsin), which now might about sensitive treatment of abuse victims es remained shuttered. College enrolled a record 3,400 judges in ming on the subject. In 2021 the College also be the prayer of judges, is, ‘Please, in court. With financial assistance from the 2020. That was about 2,000 more than published a list of 20 concrete suggestions God, don’t let it be close.’” federal Paycheck Protection Program, any year in recent memory. for how judges can combat racial injustice. which kept staffing reductions to a min- The ideas were drawn from the 2020 Problem-solving-court pioneer imum, the College was able to present conversations. Symposium looks at how to keep implicit bias from Peggy Hora dies 165 webinars and 17 web-based courses, Teaching the judiciary how to creeping into jury decisions including two phenomenally popular recognize and prevent racial The College lost one of its finest teachers rapid-response webinar series, on judging injustice Just days before mandatory pandemic pre- and the judiciary lost one of the original during the pandemic and racial justice. In the wake of the police killing of George cautions forced the cancelation of virtually apostles of the problem-solving court The College also delivered 16 in-person Floyd and subsequent protests against all public gatherings, the College held a movement with the passing of Hon.