[blindlaw] Bench Bar Conference

[Elizabeth Rene]

Hi all,

I'm writing to reflect upon a bench bar conference I attended on Monday 
through my county bar association.

Judges from every level of my state's court system, from muni court presider 
to supreme court chief justice, spoke all day in panels to engage lawyers in 
upcoming developments, bench bar relationships, election patterns and their 
impact on judicial diversity, and future trends in court staffing.

One striking revelation consistently communicated from the bench was that 40 
to 50 percent of the judges now sitting will retire within the next five 
years.

This was disheartening to me because well-liked and well-respected judges 
who have been icons of the court will soon be gone, I know I'll miss their 
presence, and there'll be a kind of knowledge and experience gap yawning in 
the near future that will take years to fill.

But as the day progressed, I started to have a new feeling.  Gee, maybe I 
could be one of those new judges!

There'll be a labor shortage on the bench, which has to mean opportunity for 
any qualified and committed person who wants to serve as a judge.  And 
there'll be a little bit of time to prepare for it.

My state can't be all that unique.  So, my fellow blind lawyers, you might 
have such an opportunity in store, too.

With the technology now available to us, the duties of a judge should be 
easier than ever before to perform without sight.  With a growing number of 
blind lawyers in practice, fellow members of the bar are coming to recognize 
us as practitioners of skill and integrity.  WE can do this.

What do you think?

Elizabeth