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10 B. Rep. 1 (1981-1982)

handle is hein.barjournals/breport0010 and id is 1 raw text is: AN OFFICIALUBUCATION OF THE DsTic OF COLUMBIA BAR NaImed91 VOt. 10 N., flew Directors for LRIS, CLE Named Directorships of two key Bar pro- grams have been filled with the arrival of Susan P. Koniak and Luis Espada- Platet. Koniak joined the Bar staff Au- gust 31 to direct the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program, and Espada- Platet joined the staff September 28 as Director of the Lawyer Referral and In- formation Service (LRIS). Koniak is a Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude graduate of New York Uni- versity (1975) and earned her law de- gree at Yale Law School in 1978. She is a native of New York City and a mem- ber of the D.C. Bar. Most recently she served as Director of Governance and Administration with the Greater Bos- ton Legal Services program. From 1979-80 she was assistant to President- Division 4 Works to Meet Broad Mandate In the Bar's early years when Presi- dent Charles T. Duncan created the divisions for members to organize voluntarily around traditional areas of professional concern, Division 4's man- date toward the courts, lawyers and the administration of justice was one of the broadest of any of the sixteen divisions. Seven years later its record of activity suggests that the mandate remains broad and its work continues to make important contributions to the D.C. Bar. The scope suggested by Charles Duncan for Division 4 covers all aspects of the attorney's relationship to the courts and the legal profession. The scope covers law school education, CLE and, in cooperation with Division 6, the exploration of making legal ser- vices available to the public-including prepaid legal services plans, advertis- ing, and the import of these programs under the Code of Professional Respon- sibility. In essence, then, the division exists elect William Reece Smith Jr. at the American Bar Association. She returns to Washington where she previously worked for then-Rep., now Senator, Christopher J. Dodd (D Conn.) on the House Select Committee on Assassina- tions (1978-79). In commenting upon her appoint- ment, Executive Director J. David Ell- wanger said, We at the D.C. Bar are particularly pleased to bring 'someone to lead our CLE program who offers such broad management experience and familiarity with Bar affairs. Since July 1981, the CLE program has oper- ated on a self-sufficient basis. Koniak will oversee a fifty-course curriculum, which enrolls 5,000 participants each year. to provide'D.C. Bar members with a vehicle to question, study, and shape all facets of the relationship between the bench and the Bar, and the Bar and the community. In the past the division has been partially or entirely responsible for the Fee Arbitration Board, the lawyer referral service, and the Lawyer Directory and the Lawyer Register. Naturally enough, Division 4 con- tinues to involve itself with the Bar's relationship to the courts (U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court, D.C. Court of Appeals, and the D.C. Superior Court), the judiciary, legal education, bar admission, and liaison with voluntary bar associations. Division 4 through the years has filed numerous briefs and comments on pro- posed legislation and court rules. In the 1976 Decoster case, the seminal case in this jurisdiction on the effective assistance of counsel, the division filed an amicus brief. Division 4 also com- mented on the D.C. Arbitration and Judgements Act in 1976 and, in 1978, offered comments on proposed federal diversity jurisdiction legislation. Since 1978 the division has supported the work of its Court Rules Committee, which monitors and comments upon the proposed court rules changes of all Continued on page 2 Espada-Platet, a native of Puerto Rico, has been involved for the past three years in a managerial capacity with the Neighborhood Legal Services Program in Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico Legal Services, Inc. in San Juan. He was graduated in 1966 from the University of Puerto Rico (Piedras, P.R.) and earned his J.D. from the In- teramerican University of Puerto Rico (San Juan, 1972). He is licensed to prac- tice law in various jurisdictions includ- ing the District of Columbia. He will lead the Bar's much-praised LRIS pro- gram, which was the first referral ser- vice to meet ABA guidelines for a mod- el program. The staff opening occurred when for- mer Director Paul V. Carlin became the Newman Takes Office As Courts Center President State courts have been responsible for some of the most innovative pro- grams in the last ten years; mandatory mediation and cameras in the court- room are two examples, comments Chief Judge Theodore R. Newman Jr., of the D.C. Court of Appeals, who re- cently was elected President of the Board of Directors of the National Cen- ter for State Courts (NCSC). Formerly vice president and a mem- ber of the center's board of directors, Judge Newman sees a growing role for state courts and for NCSC in coming years. Over 90 percent of the litiga- tion in the country is in the state courts. The federal courts are being over- worked, and in the last ten years the Supreme Court has curtailed the role of the federal courts in overseeing state court operations. The state courts have an expanding responsibility. Executive Director of the Bar Associa- tion of Baltimore who shepherded the program through its early years . LRIS was affected by the 1981 referenda, but membership contribu- tions have been raised and allocated by Board policy in a manner that assures its operation through June 1982. Espada-Platet supervises a program that processes more than 1,500 calls each month from persons with legal queries or problems. In welcoming the new LRIS director, Ellwanger said, We are proud to con- tinue the strong record that LRIS has represented with a person whose ex- perience and commitment to the deliv- ery of legal services to the poor assures the program s high standards. U The National Center for State Courts, with headquarters in Williams- burg, Virginia, is a nonprofit organiza- tion dedicated to the modernization of court operations and the general im- provement of justice in the state and lo- cal courts. NCSC was founded ten years ago, Judge Newman explains, as a direct result of Chief Justice Burger's strong urging for an organization for state courts modeled after the already existing Federal Judicial Center. Today, the center works with courts in all fifty states, the District of Colum- bia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. Project Continued on page 2 Social Services Uses Innovative Prognms recommendations and involvement The Social Services Division com- By David Sellers with probation, alternative sentencing bines the most human aspects of the progams an conselng ffots. judicial system and deals with complex Poised at the top is division director emotional and personal problems on a The D.C. Superior Court's Social Alan Schuman. Directly beneath are professional level. Where they fail, Services Division is an intricate opera- his branch directors who oversee the they want to know why. Each year tion that combines a wide range of in- division's three sections: Jim Porter, Schuman and his branch directors meet formation, treatment and support serv- Adult Branch; Bob Hilson, Family to set concrete objectives for the com ices for adults and juveniles. Although Branch; and Phil Collins, Special Serv ing year. Every month thereafter they Social Services is considered a court ices Branch. The branches operate consult to review goals and discuss division, it acts more like an agency, with relative independence, but where they have been successful and serving as an intermediary for the together they form a division unlike where they have fallen short. As Schu- court, client, and community through any other in the court system. man notes, the division cuts across juvenile and adult lines and touches the community in its everyday work, thus making it perhaps the court's most comprehensive division. Staff members at the court do not deny that the Social Services Division, like any other court component, does have its share of problems. On the other hand, the no-nonsense, monthly review sessions go a long way toward pinpointing difficulties and resolving problems. For example, complaints Contintied on pty' -2

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