First General Meeting of the Year
Monday, August 31, 2009 at Noon in the Courtroom (first floor).
Officer’s Meeting
Don’t forget there is an Officer’s Meeting, 8/18 at 5pm at the Starbucks across from the school!
NACDL Misdemeanor Report
Today a report was released based on research by Seattle University School of Law Professor Bob Boruchowitz, lead researcher on the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers-supported study on Misdemeanor courts.
“The explosive growth of misdemeanor cases is placing a staggering burden on America’s courts. Defenders across the country are forced to carry unethical caseloads that leave too little time for clients to be properly represented. As a result, constitutional obligations are left unmet and taxpayers’ money is wasted.”
Read the report here:
http://www.nacdl.org/misdemeanor
Murder 101 Project
The Criminal Justice Society is giving a presentation on its Murder 101 Project today at noon for Social Justice Monday. Their current case, Sergio Reyes-Brooks, is currently at trial. An attorney has contacted the Criminal Justice Society and asked for help in another murder case. If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity contact Donna Larsen, president of the CJS.
An article about the Murder 101 Project can be read here. For additional information on this and other CJS events, join our Facebook page and/or TWEN site.
Criminal Justice Society Presents: Legal Education Certification
Criminal Justice Society Presents: Legal Education Certification
Take the time to improve your legal knowledge. Four 45-minute lunchtime lectures will be given throughout the month of March by some of the top legal minds in the Seattle area. Each student who attends will be given a certificate showing they have taken the time to become a better lawyer. Put THAT on your resume. Tuesday, March 31st, Noon, in the Courtroom – Attorney Eric Weston will talk about closing argument – from how to use it to focus and structure everything else you do in criminal defense, and a cookbook approach to writing and delivering. He will also answer questions about public defense and prosecuting, having done both in his 18 years as a criminal lawyer.
Facebook page for this event.
Teen Prostitution Panel in April
CJS Presents: Teenage Prostitution Policy Panel: Rethinking Our Approach to Prostituted Youth
Please join us on Thursday, April 16, 2009 for this important policy discussion on teenage prostitution. Together we will question whether the prosecution method is truly the best method of dealing with prostituted youth, and we will look at ways in which legal professionals and community members can join forces to tackle this enormously pressing social issue.
Our guests include:
- Professor Raven Lidman from the Youth Advocacy Clinic;
- Ms. Ye-Ting Woo, Assistant US Attorney, Western District of Washington;
- Dr. Debra Boyer, author of “Who Pays the Price? Assessment of Youth Involvement in Prostitution in Seattle”
- Ms. Terri Kimball, Director, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Seattle Human Services Department
Heavy Appetizers and Refreshments will be provided. To RSVP or for more information, contact Beverly Ibsen, ibsenb@seattleu.edu or Donna Larsen, larsend2@seattleu.edu.
Co-sponsoring the event are the following Seattle University School of Law student organizations.
Thanks for your support!
ACLU SYLAW International Law Society
Click here for the offical page on this event.
Meeting Notes
CJS MEETING – January 27, 2009
Notes for those who didn’t attend:
Elections for officers will be held March 9, 2009. An information session for people who are interested in joining CJS will be held on March 2, 2009 from 12:15pm to 12:45pm. The March 9th meeting will allow anyone interested in running to get up and pitch why they should be elected, then paper ballots will be handed out and then collected at the end of the meeting. We should know that day who the new officers are. These officers-elect will contact current officers who will guide them through the CJS processes. If you have any information for the “big red book” located in the CJS desk now would be a good time to put it in there. Future officers will need to know how we did things when we started the club, who we know, what we did, etc.
In March we will start a lecture series called “CJS Presents – Legal Education Certification.” This will be a series of four lectures given around lunchtime (and lasting around a half hour) where students will bring their own lunch and listen to the attorney talk about the subject for that day. The topics will be: motions, statistics for lawyers, the jury (and voir dire), and cross examination. The lecture will be given by a local attorney who has special knowledge in this area. Students who attend will get a certificate of completion they can put on their resume.
Kaylynn has forms for anyone interested in doing a ride along with the police. I thought this would be a great tie in with our gun club idea (which has apparently stalled) and maybe a visit to a forensics lab. There are so many aspects to criminal law, and knowing about how police do their job would be a great thing to know. I’d like to have a public meeting (meaning different than the officer’s meeting today) next week and sort of introduce this idea. I am going to try to get the gun club thing moving today by talking to the deans and finding out exactly what they want and how we can get it for them.
Beverley and I have talked about doing a panel on teen prostitution sometime in early April. I think Professor Ainsworth has some special knowledge about this and we plan to follow up.
Murder 101 is currently working on the Reyes-Brooks case which goes to trial in mid-February. There are still openings if you know anyone who is interested in participating.
Donna
Victory
Thanks for all the support on the recent Murder 101 victory. I’d like to thank the following people who helped work on that case: Abraham Ritter, Richard Glenn, Jay Garrison and Professor John Mitchell (who gave me some good advice).
If you are interested in joining Murder 101, we have some research opportunities coming up, which would entail working briefly on a specific issue and has no long time commitment. Let me know if you are interested.
Death with Dignity Act
The SU Criminal Justice Society would like to thank Emily M. Gause, a 1L in Section B, for stepping up and coordinating this discussion. From coming up with the topic to inviting faculty, she did a lot of work on this I want her to know we appreciate it.
Noontime Discussion
Monday, November 3, 2008
NOON- 12:50 pm
Room C5
Topic: “Death with Dignity Act” Initiative 1000
Featured Professor: John Mitchell
Please join the Criminal Justice Society for it’s first Noontime Discussion of the year. Our discussion topic will be the “Death with Dignity Act”- Initiative 1000. This initiative, on the November 4th ballot, will legalize physician assisted suicide in Washington State. Please join Professor John Mitchell and members of the Criminal Justice Society in a discussion on this very controversial topic.
Pizza and cupcakes will be provided.
Two articles on the topic:
The Seattle Times recently wrote this piece:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008259886_oregonlaw13m0.html
This is the Initiative 1000’s website:
http://itsmydecision.org/
An exciting week…
This week is an exciting week for students who are interested in criminal law. On Monday, the 22nd of September, we have criminal defense lawyer Kennet Phillipson coming to talk to us about the controversy surround the removal of Judge Nault from criminal court proceedings. This will take place from 6pm to 7pm, which makes it a great opportunity for evening students to attend a CJS event. We have been lacking in that capacity so far this year, and I apologize and plan to make up for it soon!
Also on Monday we will be holding a Murder 101 WIKI training at noon in room C-3. At this meeting students who have completed their Murder 101 Commitment Forms will be given discovery in the Sergio Reyes-Brooks case. Also, anyone who attends can participate in WIKI training. This training takes about 10 minutes and is required of all students interested in working on Murder 101. WIKI’s are encyclopedias of knowledge and a great way to keep track of large amounts of information culled by multiple sources. We will be using WIKIs on all our cases. This enables multiple people working on a large case to bring information together in one easy to use database. Using a WIKI is fairly simple; if you can use MS Word, you can use a WIKI. There are a few differences which is what we will be going over on Monday.
Another program we would like to start this week involves creating a webpage where criminal justice professionals can get information they need, such as rehab facilities in a particular town, or who to talk to about paying restitution, etc. This is an opportunity to work directly with criminal justice professionals all while learning valuable information that will help you to be a better attorney. Write to me at larsend2@seattleu.edu if you are interested in this opportunity.
We also have a great Take an Attorney to Dinner coming on Wednesday night with Aaron Pelley. Email Andrew Rice for more information on coming with us!