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    October 06, 2023 Judicial Division

    JD Director's Column

    By Ms. Tori Jo Wible, Chicago, IL

    Fall is here again, the new bar year has begun, with all the excitement of new programs, new leaders.

    Looking back, it was a great year. The JD put on 15 web-based programs and 7 live programs. The JD collaborated with more entities and established a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate with the National Judicial College to help expand their Reading and Robes program. One of the books released by the Judicial Division, Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges was recognized by the Association of Continuing Legal Education Award for Outstanding Achievement in Legal Publications. The JD released 5 new titles in FY23, bringing the total list to 11, with 3-5 expected in FY24. The best way to continue publishing as a source of non-dues revenue is to keep the books coming. Everyone is a potential author!

    The JD also released 17 Gavel Talks, the podcast hosted by Judge Richard Ginkowski. He is always looking for topics and interesting people to interview for the podcast. Listeners consumed over 8 hours of content nearly every month last year.

    The award-winning Judges’ Journal magazine has four amazing issues planned for the year. Please make sure you save some time to read all the articles.

    Looking forward, Judge Julian Mann will be focusing on judicial selection. Whether elected or appointed, judicial selection is of vital importance to an independent judiciary. The conferences and committees are all hard at work and we’ve already begun planning for the Midyear Meeting in Louisville. Judge Mann would also like to emphasize civics education through our Judicial Outreach Program and the Diversity outreach programs at Midyear and Annual. In addition, the Judicial Clerkship Program will be in its 24th year. We hope to see more prior participants returning as members of the Bench.

    The Membership Committee and JD Leadership are planning quarterly zoom meetings for new members. The JD can be a little tricky to know your way around, so why not ask someone who’s in the know?! Watch for the links coming soon.

    The JD dues increased for the first time in over 20 years to $50 per year. We hope the dues increase will not impact membership but will provide some funding for new projects. Since last fall, the staff has changed a little, we added Amy Dasgupta who is staff for State Trial, NCALJ, Appellate Judges, Council of Appellate Lawyers, and Council of Appellate Staff Attorneys, she survived her first Annual Meeting with flying colors. Sadly, we have lost another staff member to ABA Digital Content. (For those keeping score, they also stole away JoAnn Saringer), Julie Peacock who has been our publications, website, email, marketing, membership, social media, and digital native, moved over to Digital Content in early September. Kris Berliant and I will be managing membership. I will take over the Book Editorial Board, and we’ll split up the email marketing. The website work will be contracted out to Digital Content, where we hope Julie will be able to keep an eye on it!

    Looking forward to a great year, with lots of new ideas and new members getting involved. See you soon!

    Ms. Tori Jo Wible

    Judicial Division Director

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