IJA Docket
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Intellectual Property Seminar
in Washington, DC
From August 11 – 15, the International Judicial Academy
conducted a seminar on intellectual property law for 17
judges and 12 lawyers from Argentina. The one-week seminar
took place in Washington, DC. The participants heard presentations
from experts in the field of intellectual property, including
representatives from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
and the U.S. Copyright Office, among others. The delegation
will visit the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, MD and
the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to observe how U.S.
judges hear and manage intellectual property cases.
Fourth Sir Richard May Seminar
– September 2008
The International Judicial Academy conducted the Fourth
Sir Richard May Seminar on International Law & International
Courts in The Hague from September 21 - 26. The delegation
consisted of 23 state and federal judges from the United
States as well as four judges from Argentina and one from
Chile.
This year the Academy introduce new presentations and site visits to the seminar agenda. The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) High Commissioner on National Minorities spoke to the participants about the mandate and work of the High Commissioner. Site visits included the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the T.M.C. Asser Institute, an international law research institution, for a presentation on international criminal law.
International Human Rights Law
Seminar – Strasbourg, France
The International Judicial Academy has received a grant
from the JEHT Foundation (Justice, Equality, Human dignity
and Tolerance) in New York, NY to conduct a series of educational
seminars for U.S. judges on international human rights law
in Strasbourg, France. Because the United States is involved
in and will most likely continue to be involved in international
conflicts where human rights issues are of fundamental importance,
U.S. judges sitting in both state and federal courts must
become knowledgeable about basic principles of international
human rights law.
Strasbourg is the site of the European Court of Human Rights, established by the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950. Its purpose is to monitor human rights compliance by the member states of the Council of Europe, which currently number 47. The seminar will cover international human rights law as it applies to the European Court of Human Rights and include visits to the European Court of Human Rights and the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The seminar will be held from April 5 – April 9, 2009. Announcements and invitations to apply for the seminar will be mailed out at the end of the summer. Judges who are interested in applying are encouraged to contact the International Judicial Academy at ijaworld@verizon.net or (202) 628 – 7801.
Seminar Conducted in Collaboration
with the International Law Institute
This summer, from July 7 – 18, the International Judicial
Academy conducted a seminar on “Judicial & Court
Administration and Caseload Management” in collaboration
with the International Law Institute in Washington, DC.
The 13 seminar participants were judges, court administrators,
and Ministry of Justice officials from Benin, Botswana,
Nigeria, and the Philippines. Dr. James Apple, President
of the International Judicial Academy, was the Faculty Advisor
for the seminar. During the two-week seminar, the participants
were introduced to various aspects of the U.S. judicial
system related to administration and management, including
judicial independence, inherent powers of judges and courts,
case management, judicial ethics, and appellate procedure.
Among the numerous site visits were sessions at the Federal Judicial Center, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Of particular interest to the delegation was a visit to the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division of the D.C. Superior Court during which the participants learned about the construction and management of mediation programs and observed actual mediation sessions. Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia met with the group in his courtroom and discussed the court’s caseload and how it is incorporating technology into court hearings. A representative from the U.S. Marshal”s Office talked to the group about the function of the Marshal’s Service within the judicial system and how it pertains to judicial and court security. In addition, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts hosted the delegation for a day of productive sessions that addressed budget and finance, statistics, public and legislative affairs, and space and facilities.
International Judicial Academy
Joins ILAC
This spring the International Judicial Academy was advised
that it has been accepted as a member of the International
Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC). ILAC's Council unanimously
voted to accept the Academy as a Member Organisation at
its meeting on May 8, 2008. ILAC was founded in 2002 as
a non-profit organization to bring together associations
of legal and human rights experts from around the world.
Other members include the Inter American Bar Association,
American Judicature Society, and International Human Rights
Law Institute, among others. Based in Stockholm, Sweden
with offices around the world, ILAC focuses its efforts
on countries rebuilding after war and armed conflicts. There
are currently 42 Member Organisations and 23 Individual
Members of the Consortium.
IJA President Works With Liberian
Judiciary
On the heels of a productive meeting with members of the
Steering Committee for a Liberian judicial training center,
Dr. James Apple, President of the IJA, was invited to attend
the first educational program to celebrate the opening of
the Liberian Judicial College on June 17, 2008.
In late February of this year, Dr. Apple met with Hon. Kabbineh Ja'neh, an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of Liberia, Cllr. Oswald Tweh, President of the Liberian National Bar Association, and Hon. J. Boima Kontoe, Resident Circuit Judge, Gbarnga, Bong County, at the Academy's Office in Washington, DC. Dr. Apple and the three members of the Steering Committee discussed judicial training mechanisms and the steps that must be taken to establish a judicial training program. Dr. Apple provided the members of the delegation with a history on the background of judicial education in the United States.
The Liberian Judicial Training Institute is formally known as The James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute (JAAP JI). It is named after James A.A. Pierre, a former Attorney General and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
The opening ceremony of the Institute on June 17, 2008 drew many distinguished guests. Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, officially launched the JAAP JI and inducted the Board of Governors. All of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Liberia attended the ceremony, including Chief Justice Johnnie N. Lewis who gave the opening address. In addition, Donald E. Booth, the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, and Lt. General Chika Dibia Isaac Obiakor, Officer-in-Charge for the United Nations Mission in Liberia, spoke during the opening ceremony.
Following the opening ceremony, Dr. Apple gave his presentation at the Institute’s first seminar. Dr. Apple’s presentation focused on subjects for consideration during pre-trial conferences. More specifically, he addressed: issues of law and fact; witness lists – objections to witnesses or their testimony; exhibit lists – the admissibility of exhibits; expert witnesses – reports and objections to testimony; motions; and settlement.
Science Seminar in Latin America
The International Judicial Academy recently broadened its
programming in Latin America to include seminars in Chile.
After conducting its 6th Seminar on "Bringing Judges
Closer to the Sciences," in Buenos Aires and Mendoza,
Argentina, in May, the Academy held a one-day session addressing
the same issues in Santiago, Chile. 276 judges and court
administrators participated in the three-day seminar in
Buenos Aires from May 6 – 8, 2008. An additional 87
attended the sessions in Mendoza; and there were 27 participants
in the Chilean session.
The program brought together distinguished figures from the judicial, academic, and health environments to sit on a variety of panels, each one presided over by a judge from either Argentina or the United States. Topics addressed during the seminar ranged from ethical dilemmas facing judges and doctors to patient safety to scientific evidence.
The members of the U.S. delegation who accompanied Dr. James Apple, President of the IJA, to Latin America were: Judge D. Brock Hornby, U.S. District Court for the District of Maine; Judge Joan Zeldon, Superior Court of the District of Columbia; Dr. Kent McKelvey, Jr., Director of Predoctoral Education in the Department of Family and Preventative Medicine at the University of Arkansas Medical Center; and Dr. Karen Elizabeth Weck, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Director of Molecular Genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Insurance and Justice Seminar
in Washington
At the end of April the International Judicial Academy conducted
its first seminar on insurance and justice issues in Washington,
DC. Fifteen judges, provincial and federal, and eight insurance
executives from Argentina participated in this successful
pilot seminar.
The one-week program began on Sunday, April 27 with a welcome reception at the Academy's office in downtown Washington, DC. The judges and executives were able to interact with many of the individuals who would be making presentations during the seminar. Chief Judge Rufus King and Judge Joan Zeldon of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Judge Roger Titus of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and members of the staff of the Federal Judicial Center, among others, came to welcome the delegation.
The seminar agenda included presentations on a range of topics related to insurance and justice. Two notable sessions were those of Mr. Brian Atchinson, President & CEO of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association, who addressed the seminar participants on consumer issues related to the insurance industry, and Mr. Peter Miller, President of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, who addressed the issues of professional insurance education and the Institute for Global Insurance Education.
The American Insurance Association hosted the Academy's delegation for a full day of programming at its office in Washington, DC. David Snyder, AIA vice-president and assistant general counsel, arranged the visit. Mr. Snyder and his colleagues Philip Carson, Bruce Wood, and Pamela Young made presentations on worker's compensation, professional liability insurance, auto insurance, and financial accounting in the United States.
In addition to the academic sessions, the delegation visited various courts and organizations to see how the issues affect the justice system. At the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt, MD, Judge Roger Titus and Magistrate Judge Jillyn Schulze discussed alternative dispute resolution tactics and new technology used by the District Court. The Argentine judges had the opportunity to visit the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to observe a trial and learn about the Superior Court's electronic case-filing system. At the Law Library of Congress, Law Librarian Dr. Rubens Medina and his staff spoke in depth with the judges about the Global Legal Information Network, a database of laws, judicial decisions, legislative records and legal literature from countries around the world.
The insurance executives met with officials at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Treasury Department to examine U.S. trade and commercial policies towards Latin America and financial market regulation in the U.S. The executives also visited the State Department where they met with Milton Drucker, Director of the Southern Latin America Office in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
The Insurance & Justice Seminar ended on Friday, May 2 with a closing reception and dinner at the University Club in Washington, DC at which certificates of completion were presented. The seminar received high evaluations from all of the participants. The Academy plans to make the seminar an annual event.
International
Judicial Monitor