Shortly before this issue went to press, Jill Mariani passed away after privately battling an illness for about a year. Jill was an active member of the American Bar Association and took a lead in the successful passage of two resolutions in the ABA House of Delegates—one in 2020 focused on the health and well-being of military working dogs and the other in 2021 urging enactment of laws authorizing courts to allow specially trained dogs to assist victims or witnesses in their participation at any stage of the criminal justice system. Her article about courtroom dogs appears in this issue. She will be fondly remembered for her passionate advocacy for animal welfare, her work fighting corruption with the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and her dedicated service on the ABA’s Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division Council.
January 12, 2022 Feature
Message to the Members: In Memory of Jill Mariani
By Edward Monahan, Editor in Chief
We Benefit from Models of Public Service
It is important to highlight service by public lawyers. Maureen Essex, CJA supervising attorney for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, helps us understand the valuable public service by this year’s GPSLD award winners: Ann Marie Miller, managing attorney of the Tribal Defenders Office in Pablo, Montana; the Maryland Office of the Attorney General; the Access to Justice Department of the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts; and Tara Isa Koslov, deputy director of the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission.
Government Lawyers Are Heroes
Maya Angelou observed, “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.” Regina L. Nassen, principal assistant city attorney for the City of Tucson, Arizona, describes the heroic daily work of civil local-government lawyers.
Preparation Is Not Everything, But . . .
Ted Hirt reminds us of important principles of effective witness preparation. Louis Pasteur is reported to have observed that “Chance favors the prepared mind.” Successful litigators know that a prepared witness increases the chances of good outcomes.
Listening to Learn
We live in times of constant volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. What are we to do? Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston in Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders (2015) urge us to listen to learn rather than listen to fix: “If you’re going to learn, you have to actually hear what the other person says. This sounds easy, but . . . it is shockingly hard. . . . In fact, in some key competency measures, the most important compensating factor is listening. That means research has found that listening is the best thing of all at making up for the other competencies you might not be good at.” We wish you good listening as you do your important work for people amidst the complexity.
We’d Like to Hear from You
Tell us about a success you’ve experienced in your public sector practice at [email protected].