White Plains, NY, May 2, 2003. – Thirty years ago, only 13 organizations were providing education to help U.S. judges keep up with pressing social issues that had an impact on their courts.

When it opens Monday on the campus of Pace University’s law school in White Plains, New York, the New York State Judicial Institute will become the latest sign of how much educational help judges are getting now. It will be one of at least 70 state and national organizations in the U.S. offering at least 1,900 programs a year to more than 100,000 judicial branch employees.

The Institute is the nation’s first judicial training and research facility custom built by and for a state court system. (Editors: the Institute’s official name is The New York State Judicial Institute at Pace University School of Law.)

It officially opens Monday, May 5 at 11 A.M. with remarks by New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman, New York Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue, Solicitor General Caitlin J. Halligan, the Institute’s Dean Robert G. M. Keating, Pace University President David A. Caputo, and New York State Bar Association President Lorraine Power Tharp.

A year-round "college for judges" and a judicial research center, the JI will provide seminars and workshops to help judges with "pressing societal issues such as domestic violence, drug addiction, juvenile crime and environmental abuses," says New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, a longtime advocate of such education.

White Plains was chosen as its location because it is convenient to both New York City and Albany, with a downtown containing good accommodations for visiting jurists. Pace Law School was founded in 1976, and already is ranked #3 in the nation for environmental law programs.

The Institute’s dean, Robert G. M. Keating, is a widely respected former Administrative Judge for the New York City Criminal Court and more recently, Director of the Center for Judicial Studies at the Pace Law School He has been a private attorney and business executive and was Coordinator of Criminal Justice for New York City Mayor Edward Koch.

Initial programs

The programs planned for the Institute’s first few months provide a glimpse of what courts and judges must keep abreast of. It will be covering

• he new integrated domestic violence courts
  
  
• Jury trial innovations
  
  
• Drug court techniques
  
  
• Domestic violence
  
  
• The United Nations environmental program
  
  
• Litigation involving prison reform
  
  
• Guardianships
  
  
• The human genome project.

In the future, Keating says the Institute will bring in judges from countries abroad that are revising their civil systems to make them more predictable for international businesses.

The Institute plans additional courses and classes in downtown New York City and will explore distance learning, perhaps in Buffalo.

Natural light

The Institute building is designed by Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson Architects, PC (KG&D) of Mount Kisco, NY, which in recent years has completed projects for businesses like IBM and Volvo, the White Plains High School, and eight colleges.

A prominent entrance uses a curving wall and cylinder shaped atrium to bring illumination down into the building, filling the main entrance hall with natural light. Yellow brick, limestone, Westchester granite and gray metal detailing are used to blend with the existing campus architecture. The result, says the architect, Erik Kaeyer, is "appropriate for its site, functional and beautiful."

The three-story, 28,000 square-foot structure contains a 160-seat auditorium, classrooms, conference rooms, and up to date telecommunications. It has a small law library, and the Pace law library is next door. In addition, the Institute will have use of the Law School’s videoconference rooms and two mock courtrooms.

The New York State Court Facility Incentive Aid Fund provided construction costs of $15 million. Approved by the governor and the legislature in 1999, the project was virtually complete well before the state’s current budget difficulties.

In conjunction with the Institute, the Pace Center for Judicial Studies will operate a Jurist-in-Residence Program, bringing distinguished judges from around the world to study and collaborate with local judges, law school faculty member, and Institute staff members.

Christopher Cory, Director of Public Information
Pace University, 212-346-1117 (cell 917-6098-8164)

Jennifer Riekert, Director of Communications
Pace Law School, 914-422-4128

David Bookstaver, Communications Director
NY State Unified Court System, 212-428-2500

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is located in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. The School offers the J.D. program for full-time, and part-time day, and evening students. Its post-graduate program includes the LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in Environmental Law and an LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs and its Clinical Education Program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, securities arbitration, criminal justice, and disability rights.