C uncil NewsletterTHEC uncil NewsletterTHE

A Publication of the JUDICIAL COUNCIL of the National Bar Association

Spring 2013 Judge Martha Lynn Sherrod Huntsville, Alabama

Editor

Message from the

Chair

So, what kind of member are you?

Have you thought about com-mitting to the success and sta-bility of the Council? Are you ready to help? Are you willing to make a financial contribution to build the coffers? We need helping hands to meet the goals of the organization. We need voices of creativity, courage, patience, wisdom and positive thinking.

As we plan for the future and work towards our goals for this year, our part also includes inviting the uninvolved to par-ticipate. Each of us can and should reach out to at least one colleague to become involved in this organization. Statistics show that lawyers and judges, who participate in Bar activi-ties practice longer, achieve more professional satisfaction, acquire higher income and po-sitions, enjoy more collegiality and suffer fewer complaints and grievances.

The activities of this Council year are designed to provide an arena for you to grow in and to enjoy. Indeed, we will adhere to and build upon the traditions of the Council; we will act upon how we want the community to see us. So, plan to live a little more. It has been said, “Place yourself in the middle of the

stream of power and wisdom which flows into you as life; place yourself in the full center of that flood, and you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment”. Similarly, a Chinese proverb says: If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the home.

If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

I encourage you to balance life; also, to make room for faith. Delight in it. Practice it. Adhere to it. It has been said: “No man has a right to lead such a life of contemplation as to forget in his own case the service due to his neighbor; nor has any man a right to be so immersed in active life as to neglect the contempla-tion of God.”

My pledge to you is to make the remainder of the Council year, particularly the Annual Meeting, interesting and enjoyable and to poise us for a unique, bright and glorious future. The roadmap offers a path to success; it is up to us to make the journey.

Hon. Patrice A. HinnantChair

Judicial CouncilNational Bar Association

... No man has a right to lead such a life of contemplation as to forget in his own case the service due to his neighbor ...

THE COUNCIL NEWSLETTER

88th Annual ConventionJuly 27 – August 1, 2013

Fontainbleau Miami Beach, HotelMiami, Florida

Excitement is mounting for the 88th Annual Convention of the National Bar Association. Pre-registration ends July 8, 2013, and on-site registration will be available. The tenta-tive agenda for the Judicial Council includes the special screening of the film “Courting Justice,” featuring seven (7) South African women judges, all of whom were New De-mocracy Appointed. The executive director and producer, Ruth Cowan, has been invited to attend.

The Judicial Council Chairs Reception will be held at the Judge Wilkie Ferguson Courthouse. Named for one of our own, a premier location for an elegant evening of network-ing with judges from throughout the nation. Judges Martha Lynn Sherrod, Judicial Council Annual Convention Chair, extends a personal invitation for all judges to join us in Mi-ami for this year’s convention. Judge Bernice Donald and Judge Earnestine Hunt Dorse have developed educational seminars designed to educate, inform and entertain.

The Presidential and Judicial Council Chair’s showcase seminar will spotlight the rise in street and gun violence, which has impacted communities of color significantly. Visit NBAJudicialCouncil.org for additional information.

The Hon. Harriet M. Mur-phy, 2005 recipient of the Raymond Pace Alexander Award and former officer of the Judicial Council, received an Honorary Doc-toral Degree from Spelman College during the May 2013 Commencement Program at the Georgia In-ternational Convention Center. A 1949 graduate of Spelman College, Judge Murphy was the first African American woman appointed to a regular judgeship in Texas in 1973. She rose to become presiding judge of this court, and served the court for 20 years before her retirement in 1993. Judge Murphy was also the only Afri-can American woman to serve as a democratic presidential elector from the State of Texas. She was a founding member of the Austin Black Lawyers

Judge Harriet Murphy Receives Honorary Degree

Association, the Travis County Women Lawyers Association and the Austin Urban League. Inducted into the Spelman College Alumnae Hall of Fame in 1993, she was the 2003 recipient of the Gertrude E. Rush Award and was inducted into the National Bar Associa-tion Hall of Fame in 2010. A champion of diversity issues, Judge Murphy was the only black woman in her University of Texas Law School class.

Judge June C. McKinney became the first woman of color elected and sworn in as President-Elect of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary (NAALJ). The NAALJ is the largest profes-

Judge June C. McKinney First African AmericanPresident of NAALJ

sional association devoted exclusively to the adjudication in the executive branch of gov-ernment. On September 18, 2013, she will be sworn in as President of the organization.

Judge Stewart Named Chief Judge for 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

Judge Carl E. Stewart, the first African-American to serve on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, was only the second African Ameri-can judge to serve (Judge Joseph Hatchett was the first) on the ap-pellate bench. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he graduated from Dillard University, New Orleans, magna cum laude in 1971 and earned his Juris Doctor from Loyola University in 1974. Judge Stew-art was appointed to the Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1994. He has served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States; National Vice President of the American Inns of Court Foundation; serves on the Centenary College of Louisiana Board of Trustees and Louisiana State University Chancellor’s Advisory Committee. Judge Stewart is a board mem-ber of the Norwela Council of Boy Scouts of America and serves the organization at the national level on the National Awards Se-lection Committee and National Scoutreach Committee. He and his wife, Jo Ann, are the parents of three and the grandparents of three. Judge Stewart is a member of the National Bar Association.

THE COUNCIL NEWSLETTER

After a 10-year absence, the Judicial Council returned to the sun, fun and sand of Nassau, Bahamas, for the Annual Midwinter Meeting in collaboration with the Small Firms, Solo Practice and Young Lawyers Divisions.

Judge Anne-Marie Clarke served as Con-ference Chair, and Judge Bernice Donald and Judge Earnestine Hunt Dorse co-chaired the Continuing Legal Education Programs. Judge Harrison Gregg and Judge Emerson Thompson co-chaired the Annual Judge Leon Higginbotham

Midwinter Meeting Held in Nassau

Luncheon, which was attended by the Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, and Sir Michael Barnett, Chief Justice of the Bahamian Supreme Court.

The Nassau Police Department Choir and Band provided stir-ring music for this event. The Conference highlights included an escorted tour of the local police department for a review of the technology used by the

department to combat crime on the island.

The judges visited C. J. Walker High School, and donated books and school supplies collected by the judges. The Judicial Council Convocation was held at the Zion Baptist Church, Bishop Neil C. Ellis presiding. The Conference con-cluded with a Beach Party in spite of a dip in the temperature.

by Judge Anne-Marie Clarke

Chair-Elect Denise Morris, the Prime Minis-ter of the Bahmas (Perry Christie), and John

Page.

Group with Bahamian Police Commissioner Ellison E. Greenslade.

Judicial Tidbits

Non-Profit ClassU. S. PostageP A I D

Permit No. 7163Washington, D.C.

Judge Denise Langford Morris, Oakland County Michigan Circuit Court, was the recipient of the Guardian of Justice Award at the 11th Annual Judges Night Reception hoted by the American-Arab Anti-Dis-crimination Committee (ADC) Michigan Advisory Board held in Dearborn. The An-nual Judges Night Reception recognizes and honors local judges whose work in uphold-ing Civil Rights has been exemplary.

The Judicial Council applauds the confirma-tion of Judge Gershwin A. Drain to serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Nominated by President Barack Obama in November 2012, Judge Drain received bipartisan support.

Judge Michael A. Shipp, nominated by President Barack Obama in January 2013, has been confirmed for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Judge Rodney Smith, Hialeah, Florida, has been appointed to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court. He formerly served Miami-Dade County Court from 2008 until this appointment. A graduate of Florida A&M University and Michigan State University School of Law, he previously served as City

Attorney for the City of Miami Beach.

Justice Michael Tulloch, a former President of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, has been appointed as the first Black judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal. Born in Manches-ter, Jamaica, Judge Tulloch immigrated to Toronto in 1973. He received the Bachelor of Law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1989 and was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1991.

Chief Justice Tom Colbert, Oklahoma Supreme Court be-came the first Black Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme

Court January 4, 2013. Justice Colbert received a bachelor’s degree from Kentucky State University in 1973 where he was an All-American track and field competitor. He joined the United States Army upon graduation and received a master’s degree in education from Eastern Kentucky University in 1976 and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1982. Chief Justice Colbert

was assistant dean at Marquette University School of Law, 1982-84.

Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson was named Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Chief Justice Johnson is a past Chair of the Judicial Council.

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