Judges Commons^™

Get Out From Under Your Overcoat, Jeanne J. Graham

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Commitment To Compliance: Enforceability Of Remedial Orders Of African Human Rights Bodies, Roger-Claude Liwanga

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Over the last seven decades, there has been a global proliferation of international and regional human rights tribunals. But with no coercive power to enforce their judgments, these international tribunals rely either on the good faith of the State parties or on the political process for the implementation of their remedial orders. This nonjudicial approach to enforcement has showed its limits, as most State parties are noncompliant with international judgments to the detriment of human rights victims. This article recommends a new approach involving the judicialization of the post-adjudicative stage of international proceedings as an avenue to increase the enforceability …

Gossiping About Judges, Jordan M. Singer

Florida State University Law Review

Gossip about judges is an essential source of information to civil litigators. Hearing third party assessments of a judge’s personality, demeanor, intelligence, curiosity, and openness to new interpretations of the law can substantially affect a lawyer’s strategic decisions during the course of litigation, and sometimes whether litigation occurs at all. Yet gossip about judges rarely merits mention and has evaded serious study. This Article brings attorney gossip about judges out into the open, identifying its strategic benefits and drawbacks and explaining how attorneys use gossip (and other secondhand information on judges) to anticipate the likely outcome of judicial decisions. It …

Judicial Selection In Congress’ Lame Duck Session, Carl W. Tobias

Indiana Law Journal

This Article first scrutinizes the Obama Administration confirmation and nomination processes. It then critically explores selection and concludes that Republican obstruction instigated the most open positions the longest time. Because this deficiency undermines swift, economical, and fair case resolution, the Article suggests ideas to promptly decrease the remaining unoccupied judgeships after the session commences.

The Collapse Of The House That Ruth Built: The Impact Of The Feeder System On Female Judges And The Federal Judiciary, 1970-2014, Alexandra G. Hess

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Changing The Rules Of The (International) Game: How International Law Is Turning National Courts Into International Political Actors, Osnat Grady Schwartz

Washington International Law Journal

Courts are known to be political actors. National courts play the political game in the national domain. International courts play it in the international sphere. This article studies the transformation of national courts into international political actors (IPAs), and the part international law plays in so making them. The article identifies, categorizes, and demonstrates the influence of national courts and judges on international relations (IR), separating the influence into two main categories: direct and indirect. Direct influence, is the effect of a national court taking a position on international issues in concrete situations with immediate IR implications. Indirect influence is …

Unspringing The Witness Memory And Demeanor Trap: What Every Judge And Juror Needs To Know About Cognitive Psychology And Witness Credibility, Mark W. Bennett

American University Law Review

The soul of America's civil and criminal justice systems is the ability of jurors and judges to accurately determine the facts of a dispute. This invariably implicates the credibility of witnesses. In making credibility determinations, jurors and judges necessarily decide the accuracy of witnesses' memories and the effect of the witnesses' demeanor on their credibility. Almost all jurisdictions' pattern jury instructions about witness credibility explain nothing about how a witness's memories for events and conversations work-and how startlingly fallible memories actually are. They simply instruct the jurors to consider the witness's "memory" with no additional guidance. Similarly, the same pattern …

Issue 2: Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judges As Guardian Angels: The German Practice Of Hints And Feedback, Robert W. Emerson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The German practice of Richterliche Hinweispflicht is a judicial duty to give hints and feedback. In a very proactive position, the German judge asks questions of the parties designed to clarify and sharpen the key facts and issues and to give the parties a chance to correct matters that may be grounds for disposition. German judges also must ensure that the parties understand all matters that could affect the outcome of the case. In effect, the German judge's roles may be viewed as civil servant, teacher, and activist, rather than as umpire and overseer, as in the United States.

American …

Writing Reasoned Decisions And Opinions: A Guide For Novice, Experienced, And Foreign Judges, S. I. Strong

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Producing well-written reasoned judgments (a term that is used herein to denote both trial court decisions and appellate opinions) is the goal of all members of the bench. Badly written rulings can have significant legal consequences for both the parties, who may incur costs as a result of a need to appeal a poorly worded decision or opinion, and society as a whole, since a poorly drafted precedent may drive the law in an unanticipated and unfortunate direction or lead to increased litigation as individuals attempt to define the parameters of an ambiguous new ruling. As a result, helping judges …

Of Judges, Law, And The River: Tacit Knowledge And The Judicial Role, Chad M. Oldfather

Journal of Dispute Resolution

“What does it mean to be a judge?” That’s a tall order, and one is tempted to begin—and perhaps to end—by formulating taxonomy of characteristics that judges ought to have. Indeed, that is a tactic that others have used. The resulting lists differ in their particulars, but are broadly similar. The enumerated traits include attributes like intelligence, legal knowledge, judgment, decisiveness, and so on.

Educating Judges—Where To From Here?, Livingston Armytage

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In this article, I present a critique of the emerging global practice of judicial education, which has been established and grown substantially over the past thirty years. There are four challenges relating to vision, pedagogy, knowledge and leadership that confront the continuing development of judicial education.

Judicial Education: Pedagogy For A Change, T. Brettel Dawson

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Canadian judges have maintained a steadfast, long-term commitment to judicial education. Through teaching one another, judges renew their vision over time, and more concretely, address their concerns and challenges today. Since its inception in 1985, the National Judicial Institute (NJI) has sought to be a partner and a resource to judges and Courts in a shared endeavour to create relevant, practical, and effective judicial education. Working together, the NJI, judges, and Courts have built a “Canadian model” of judicial education widely respected and emulated.

Judging As Judgment: Tying Judicial Education To Adjudication Theory, Robert G. Bone

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The thesis of this Article, simply stated, is that judicial education makes sense only against the backdrop of general ideas and beliefs about law, courts, and adjudication. These ideas and beliefs motivate a focus on educating judges and help guide more specific pedagogical choices. I explore this broad thesis from both a historical and a normative perspective. Historically, I argue that interest in judicial education caught fire in the 1960s in large part because of prevailing beliefs about law and the proper function of courts. Normatively, I argue that the connection between judicial education and normative views of courts and …