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The Nebraska Transcript, Fall/Winter 2002-2003 Vol. 36 No. 2

Nebraska Transcript

Alumni Council Awards Honor Distinguished Achievements

Graduation 2002

Honor Class Reunion

Family Tradition Ceremony

American Indian Initiative Seeks to Increase Native Lawyers

Clinic's Federal Civil Rights Case Teaches Students Many Lessons

Law College Pauses to Reflect at September 11 Open Forum

Montenegrin Diary

Frederick Beutel: An Appreciation

Larry Berger: A Candid Interview with the Recently Retired Professor

Bilingual Moot Court, Husker Cap Mark Lenich's Lithuanian Class

Four Visiting Professors Join Faculty for 2002·03

Johnson, '52, World War II Ace, Featured in Famous Photograph

German, NLS Executive Director, Passionate Defender of Needy

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Cover

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Concluding A Successful Settlement Conference: It Ain’T Over Till It’S Over, Morton Denlow

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Have you ever attended a settlement conference and come away thinking the case was settled, only to later find out that your adversary has a different understanding of the settlement terms than you and your client? This is a frustrating experience, but is completely unnecessary. Careful lawyers and judges prevent such confusion by ironing out the details of a settlement at the time an agreement is reached. Leaving specific settlement terms unresolved to a later date may result in an unenforceable settlement or possible litigation to enforce the settlement.

Settlement conferences play an important role in the resolution of litigated …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Table Of Contents

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Trial By Metaphor: Rhetoric, Innovation, And The Juridical Text, Benjamin L. Berger

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

The judicial decision-making process is not one for which resolution arises from counting, measuring, or weighing. Rather, the courtroom is a field for debate about the interpretation and application of values as embodied in or reflected by the law. Decisions reached in court are judgments and not mathematical conclusions in that the inherently contestable nature of the issues at stake precludes an outcome that is selfevident to all. As such, although there is an element of factfinding that emerges in a judicial opinion, there is also always a subjective valuation of the principles at stake; to draw on Socrates, there …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Editor's Note

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

The issue begins with an examination of the development of drug courts, the most highly visible of the many “problem-solving courts” developed in recent years. The first drug court was created little more than a decade ago in 1989; today, there are more than 1,200. No doubt there have been many lessons learned along the way, and we try to find—and explore— those lessons in the lead piece in this issue.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - President’S Column, Francis X. Halligan Jr.

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Since assuming the presidency in Maui last September, I have been invited to attend numerous meetings of other organizations. The AJA reciprocates by inviting the president of these organizations to attend our meetings. This interaction between the AJA and these organizations provides for a closer working relationship between the respective memberships. Listed below are some of the meetings I have attended and a brief description of what occurred at these conferences.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Resource Page

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Going To Scale: A Conversation About The Future Of Drug Courts, Greg Berman

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Drug courts are the most prominent example of a wave of “problem-solving” innovation that has sought to change the way courts operate in this country. Alongside drug courts, domestic violence courts, community courts, family treatment courts, mental health courts, and other specialized courts are using the authority of the judicial branch in new ways—in an effort to improve outcomes for victims, communities, and defendants. These problem-solving courts employ new tools and new methods— such as requiring defendants to appear regularly before judges to report on their compliance with court orders, or adding social scientists, drug treatment counselors, and other service …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Merit Selection And Retention: The Great Compromise? Not Necessarily, Victoria Cecil

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

In the November 2000 election, the citizens of Florida had the opportunity to switch from the nonpartisan elective system to a merit selection and retention system for selecting trial judges in their respective circuits and counties. Although the majority of Florida voters favored electing their trial judges, this issue has spurred intense debate in the legal community concerning which is the better method for judicial selection. The crux of the debate centers on whether the judiciary should be independent or accountable to the public. On one end of the spectrum, judges are seen as heads of a branch of government …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 3 - Complete Issue

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

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Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Table Of Contents

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Complete Issue

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Screening For Domestic Violence: Meeting The Challenge Of Identifying Domestic Relations Cases Involving Domestic Violence And Developing Strategies For Those Cases, Julie Kunce Field

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Domestic abuse is common. It includes emotional and psychological abuse as well as physical assaults. Children are harmed by it, even if they are not the direct victims of the physical violence.
Because domestic abuse is so prevalent and its effects are so far-reaching, court personnel must educate themselves to understand domestic violence and determine strategies for handling cases where it is present. Even if domestic violence is present but does not seem to have a direct impact on the case at hand, one should be aware of the power and control dynamics of domestic abuse to provide effective intervention …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Making A Difference: Tools To Help Judges Support The Healing Of Children Exposed To Domestic Violence, Lavita Nadkarni, Barbara Zeek Shaw

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Domestic violence has emerged from the privacy of one’s own home, where only the victims were aware of the abuse, to more public domains, where one can witness the impact of such abuse on society through our court system. Judges, in both the civil and criminal arenas, exercise considerable power in instituting a wide range of possible dispositions in cases involving domestic violence. The Family Violence Prevention Fund’s National Judicial Education Advisory Committee concluded that judges made the most significant decisions affecting the lives of victims, abusers, and their children. Judges can also play a significant role in shaping society’s …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Dealing With Complex Evidence Of Domestic Violence: A Primer For The Civil Bench, Jane H. Aiken, Jane C. Murphy

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

New laws and policies aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence have been adopted across the country throughout the last twenty years. The legal approaches taken to protect battered women and control family violence have brought about significant changes in family law. New laws include statutes permitting civil protection or restraining orders, and laws requiring that domestic violence be considered in custody and visitation decisions. Both of these types of statutory reforms can provide protection to adult victims of domestic violence and their children. Evaluating a parent’s fitness by considering past acts of violence to other family members results in …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Firearms And Domestic Violence: A Primer For Judges, Darren Mitchell, Susan B. Carbon

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Firearms and domestic violence are a deadly combination. As the examples on the following page show, abusers who gain access to firearms pose a lethal threat both to those they have abused and to the wider community. Even where laws exist to disarm abusers and prevent them from purchasing new firearms, absent effective implementation of the laws—by judges, as well as by others in the civil and criminal justice system— survivors of domestic violence and the broader community continue to remain at risk of death or serious injury.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - President's Column, Francis X. Halligan Jr.

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

I have chosen for my initial column a topic that is of importance to all judges, regardless of jurisdiction or locality, yet is often ignored—courtroom and personal security. Given the domestic violence theme of this issue and the special security concerns involving courtrooms that conduct hearings involving domestic violence and family matters, I thought that this subject matter was most appropriate. I have been interested in courtroom security for many years, due to my law enforcement background, having served as a police officer in Washington, D.C., and in New Jersey. Given the limited space I have for this column, I …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - The Parenting Of Men Who Batter, Lundy Bancroft

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

The published research on children’s exposure to domestic violence focuses largely on two aspects of their experience: the trauma of witnessing physical assaults against their mother, and the tension produced by living with a high level of conflict between their parents. As important as these factors are, they reflect only one aspect of many complex problems that typically pervade the children’s daily lives. The bulk of these difficulties have their roots in the fact that the children are living with a batterer present in their home. The parenting characteristics commonly observed in batterers have implications for the children’s emotional and …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Editor's Note

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Domestic violence is a subject about which judges need good initial education and continuing refresher courses. Quite simply, there is much about it that is counterintuitive. Why does a woman who is physically and mentally abused day after day, week after week, stay with the abuser? For most of us, the answer is neither self-evident nor a part of our personal life experience. Yet there is a large—and growing—body of good research in the area.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - The Resource Page: Focus On Domestic Violence

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

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Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Cover

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

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Child Care Characteristics And Quality In Nebraska, Carolyn P. Edwards, Lisa Knoche, Abbie Raikes, Helen Raikes, Julia C. Torquati, Brian Wilcox, Lanette Christensen

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and related organizations): Publications

The Midwest Child Care Research Consortium conducted a study of child care quality and characteristics of the child care work force in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri to help states establish a baseline for tracking quality over time, following initiatives, policy and other changes. The measures are not based on Nebraska child care licensing standards. Rather, using research-based measures of quality, they assess the extent to which quality indicators are present among the child care settings and in the work force. The current study included a random telephone survey of 2022 Midwestern child care providers (508 from Nebraska), conducted during …

The Nebraska Transcript, Spring/Summer 2002 Vol. 36 No. 1

Nebraska Transcript

Class of 2004

From Staff to Student: Sharon Joseph Crosses Over

Alumni Council Achievements Include Awards, Newsletter

Cambridge Summer Session Offer Global Perspective

Visiting Professor Preeta Bansal, Former N.Y. Solicitor General, Returns to Her Nebraska Roots

Conscientious State Legislators and the Cultures of Compliance and Liberalization Relating to International Trade Agreements

Public Policy Center Thrives Under Tomkins’ Leadership

David Hill, Professor at Colorado, Returns to ‘Big Red’ Country

Fall Reunions 2001

O’Connor: Terrorism Best Fought By Operating Under Rule of Law

Federal Judges Camp, Riley Bring High Standards to Bench

Rhode: Sex Discrimination In Legal Profession Still Problem

A Tale …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 1 - A Crack At Federal Drafting, Joseph Kimble

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

This will not be the first or last article that criticizes the style of drafting in federal statutes. But it will, I believe, be different in at least one respect: it will scrutinize the style in just one small slice of federal drafting in a way that should edify drafters of any legal document. In fact, this inspection should open the eyes of all legal writers—for I’ll identify some of the persistent, inexcusable failings that pervade all legal writing. I did this kind of thing once before in Court Review, using the final orders from the Clinton impeachment trial. If …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 2 - Judicial Candidate Speech After Republican Party Of Minnesota V. White, Jan Witold Baran

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

The people want to elect judges. Notwithstanding a typical Washington lawyer’s view of the judiciary enshrined in Article III of the Constitution, the citizens of 39 states insist that judges should be subject to electoral accountability and not be given lifetime appointments by the government elites. For that reason, 53% of state appellate judges must run in contested elections for an initial term on the bench (out of 1,243 judges). Likewise, 66% of state trial court judges (8,489) must first run in contested elections. Eight-seven percent of all state appellate and trial judges face some type of election for subsequent …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 1 - Cover

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 1 - Recent Civil Decisions Of The United States Supreme Court: The 2001-2002 Term, Charles H. Whitebread

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

The United States Supreme Court’s 2001-2002 term marked Chief Justice Rehnquist’s 30th anniversary on the bench. Given the continuing prominence of 5-4 splits along typically ideological lines, the chief justice’s leadership is as significant as it ever was. In the context of the Court’s civil decisions, the chief justice’s importance to the conservative bloc was demonstrated in the case immunizing states from privateparty complaints adjudicated by administrative agencies and in the Court’s acceptance of a policy permitting public vouchers to be used for religious school tuition. The Court also confronted significant issues regarding the First Amendment and limitations on protecting …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 1 - Should Judges Be More Like Politicians?, Roy A. Schotland

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Judges sometimes are unrealistic. Whatever one’s view of the recent Pledge of Allegiance decision, do you remember Clinton v. Jones, in which eight justices had no doubt that there were no serious risks in allowing Paula Jones’ lawsuit to proceed against a sitting President?
The Supreme Court’s decision about judicial elections shows how unrealistic five justices can be about what happens in election campaigns, and also—ironically—about how much judges differ from legislators and others who run for office. Reality was captured concisely by Robert Hirshon, president of the American Bar Association, who said, “This is a bad decision. It will …

Court Review: Volume 39, Issue 1 - Editor's Note

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association

Most state court judges in the United States stand for election, whether it be one in which an opposing candidate can run or one in which an appointed judge stands for retention. Accordingly, questions concerning what judicial candidates can say during an election campaign are of great significance. At the end of its past term, the United States Supreme Court issued its first decision regarding the tension between the First Amendment and restrictions that have been placed by states on the speech of judicial candidates.