State Seeks Applicants For Independent Redistricting Commission

Like to draw? Get along well with others? Apply by June 10.

Looking for a unique opportunity to influence public policy in a state you care about?

On this Change of Venue Friday, I point you toward the fact that a new Redistricting Commissioner is being sought. There are a variety of qualifications to meet, and your deadline is Monday, June 10.

Below, I have included the language describing the position and including a link to the application.

If you read the newspaper, you know that the job is not without its, um, challenges, shall we say. The opening was created by the resignation of the Vice Chair. You could read more about that here.

Still interested, aren’t you? That’s what I like about attorneys: the dogged commitment to effective public policy!

Here’s the detail. Have a great weekend.

“Applications are currently being accepted by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments for a vacancy on the Independent Redistricting Commission, which is charged with mapping Arizona’s congressional and legislative districts. This vacancy was created by the resignation of Commission Vice Chair Jose M. Herrera.”

“Residents of all Arizona counties are eligible to apply. To be eligible, applicants must be registered Arizona voters who have been continuously registered with the Democratic Party for the last three years. People who have held or run for a public office (other than a school board), served as an officer of a political party or a candidate’s campaign committee, or worked as a registered paid lobbyist during the past three years are not eligible.”

“Application forms are available here, by calling (602) 452-3311, or at 1501 W. Washington, Suite 221, Phoenix, AZ.”

“Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on June 10, 2013.”

“Redistricting Commission members are barred from seeking or holding any public office in Arizona or for registration as a paid lobbyist during their term on the commission and for three years following.”

“The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments will review the applications and nominate a pool of three candidates. Representative Chad Campbell, Minority Leader in the Arizona House of Representatives, will appoint the new member of the Redistricting Commission.”

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Reform of Probate Court at @courtpio Receives Top National Honor

Hon. Rosa Mroz, in the February 2005 Arizona Attorney Magazine

There has been ample coverage of the probate court in Maricopa County over the past few years. That’s why good news—and equal time—require that we note a national honor that has come to that court.

This week, the National Association of Court Management awarded Maricopa County Superior Court’s Probate Court with the 2013 Justice Achievement Award. According to a Superior Court news release, the award recognizes comprehensive reform efforts of judicial officers, administrators and court staff over the last three years.

Congratulations to all involved, and especially to Probate Presiding Judge Rosa Mroz (whom we profiled here in Arizona Attorney Magazine).

Here is the court’s news release:

After three years of comprehensive reform, Maricopa County Superior Court’s Probate Court has positioned itself as one of the top probate courts in the Nation.

The National Association of Court Management (NACM), the largest organization of court management professionals in the world, awarded Superior Court’s Probate Court with the 2013 Justice Achievement Award.

Superior Court Presiding Judge Norman Davis said, “It is clear that over the past few years the Maricopa County Probate Court has experienced significant reform and innovation under the able leadership of Probate Presiding Judge Rosa Mroz.  The process of improvement is by its nature perpetual, and the Maricopa County Superior Court has always, and will continue to, strive for excellence in providing the public with the best judicial system possible. My sincere thanks to all who were – and are – involved in the Probate Court system improvements and other reform initiatives.”

The award recognizes the tremendous efforts made by the judicial officers, administrators and court staff that helped transform Probate Court. During the last three years, Probate Court developed a new case management protocol with case differentiation, expanded use of ADR, created a new accountability court, improved communication and information flow between administrative oversight personnel and judicial officers and implemented public education programs and videos.

“The reform and innovations made by the Probate Court could not have happened without the support and dedication of everyone in the department.  They not only implemented these changes, they embraced it.  The common goal of everyone who works in the Probate Court is to serve and protect people unable to care for themselves.  The Probate Court will continue to examine itself and make improvements in furtherance of that goal,” Probate Presiding Judge Rosa Mroz.

The Court will accept the award at the NACM Annual Conference on July 15.

The Justice Achievement Award was established in 1988 to recognize outstanding achievement and meritorious projects that enhance the administration of justice.

In 2010, Superior Court received a Justice Achievement Award for the re-design of its CASA website.

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Faculty, Students of @ASUCollegeofLaw To Present in Germany at U.N. Climate Change Meeting

The climate is changing, along with the increasing impressiveness of law students.

I recall law school as periods of intense work surrounding by longer stretches of incomprehensible reading, periodic nervous gazing at my checkbook register, and coffee. Much coffee.

So when I heard about another approach, I had to take notice.

This week and next, a group of ASU Law School students will be in Germany, where they will present their own research on climate change as it relates to the law and international agreements.

And while they’re doing this, they will blog.

ASU Professor Daniel Bodansky

Did I mention I was good at drinking coffee?

In any case, the students and their faculty members will be abroad from June 3 to June 14.

Here is how the law school’s own Janie Magruder describes the exploits of these talented people:

“A group of professors and students from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University will present their research on international legal regimes at a global climate change negotiation organized under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on June 3-14, in Bonn, Germany.”

“The law students—Daniel Crane, a May 2013 graduate, 3Ls Evan Singleton and Michael O’Boyle, and Ashley Votruba, a student in the J.D./Ph.D. Social Psychology program—will address participants on June 5. They will be accompanied by Professor Daniel Bodansky, the ASU Lincoln Professor of Law, Ethics, and Sustainability, and Daniel Rothenberg, a Professor of Practice in the ASU School of Politics and Global Studies, and the Lincoln Fellow for Ethics and International Human Rights Law.”

ASU Professor Daniel Rothenberg

“The students’ work resulted from an independent research project this past spring, taught and supervised by Bodansky and Rothenberg, housed in the College of Law’s Center for Law and Global Affairs, and funded by the ASU Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics. They were chosen from 20 applicants for ‘The Future of Climate Change Negotiations Project,’ during which they learned about the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and other elements of the larger effort to use international law and regulations to address global climate change.”

Both of those professors are amazing scholars, so I’m sure the students are getting the learning experience of a lifetime.

Read more about the trip here.

And as I said, they’ll be posting on a blog throughout their time in Germany. Why don’t you bookmark their page to keep tabs on them. Who knows; they may even allow comments and questions (giving us all a pen pal abroad!).

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Your Public Speaking Advice Welcome

What advice would you give high school students who must stand and deliver behind a microphone?

I know this will be a relief to you, but there is still time for you to lend me a hand.

As you read this, I’ll be putting the finishing touches on what I aim to be a great presentation on public speaking. At least, it will be that with your assistance.

My mission: Present to a group of high school leaders at an ASU leadership event. I presented there last year, and, given the shortness of memory, they have invited me to return.

The group I’ll be addressing is comprised of high school students. They will be participating in something called the Asian LEAD Academy (co-sponsored by the Arizona Asian American Bar Association). You can read more about the program here.

Before I presented last year, I asked folks what public speaking advice they’d offer. I ended up getting some great responses, which I shamelessly stole and wove into my presentation.

This year, my part of the leadership program is an hour and a half. 90 minutes. 9. 0. Help a fellow out.

So I restate my queries to you that to which so many readers responded:

• What is your strongest piece of advice for someone who is hesitant to speak in front of a group?
• What was your biggest obstacle to public speaking, and how did you overcome it?
• What is your worst public speaking disaster story? And were you able to right that capsizing ship, or to learn something from the experience?

And I add one question:

• What format works best to convey public speaking lessons?

Thanks! I will report back on the lessons that I—and the students—learned.

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Lessons From Arizona’s Water War

Happy anniversary, Arizona v. California.

Even if you never took a course called “Water Law,” you may recognize that court case as one of the most significant in the nation’s history. Or at least in Arizona’s history.

Today is the 50th birthday of a case that settled a battle between states over water rights and allocations that flowed from two major rivers.

You may have missed it, so I commend to you a terrific examination of the court case’s significance, as written by University of Arizona Professor Robert Glennon. He penned the piece for the Arizona Republic, and I particularly enjoyed the shout-out he gave to Arizona Attorney:

“Last year, Arizona Attorney magazine dubbed the case the most important judicial decision in the state’s history.”

Well, that we did. And now Republic readers know it too.

And for some confirmation that water battles are not a thing of the past, here is a story from the Yuma Sun from just last week. It describes the challenges we face as water shortages grow more acute (the article was part of a worth-reading series).

Here is Robert Glennon’s opening on Arizona v. California:

“Arizona will celebrate the 50th anniversary on June 3 of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona vs. California, a decades-long feud with California over water from the Colorado and Gila rivers.”

Keep reading here.

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Content + Attitude = Event Success, a la @nichemediahq

What can event organizers learn from a man with cool glasses eating a Goo Goo Cluster?

Quite a bit, I’d wager.

Carl Landau, Niche Digital, eats a Nashville specialty.

Happy Change of Venue Friday. That off-kilter thought occurred when a conference notification arrived in my email. I will read most all copy (words) that come my way, but typically I am loath to click through to time-sucking video content. And yet there he was, this guy, about to eat a Nashville confectionary delicacy. Click.

What I got was a charming and idiosyncratic view into the Niche Media Conference. Its annual event was in Tempe this past year, and it’s good stuff. (Yes, Arizona Attorney Magazine is niche media, and proudly so. That makes all you legal eagles “niche readers.” Congratulations!)

How do you get people to use their scarce resources—time, money, attention—to travel across country to attend an educational conference? If you’re like most organizations, you inundate prospects with emails and printed materials, flooding their minds and short patience with all of the content content content that will be available, but only if you REGISTER NOW.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of those pitches.

Well, if you’re Carl Landau with Niche Media, you try something else. You recognize that people attend events for all kinds of reasons, not all easily categorized and put in a formal box. You decide to try to connect to viewers on a deeper level. You realize that people do want content (yes, indeed), but what they yearn for is a genuine transformative experience. They want to arrive in a place whose guides (some organizations call them “presenters” or “PowerPoint drones”) will challenge them in fun and innovative ways. It’s at places like that, people think, that they will learn the most cutting-edge industry strategies.

And they may even want some local color. That’s where the Goo Goo Clusters come in.

I was at a great Nashville conference a few years ago, and I cannot say enough about that wondrous creation. I even waxed poetic about it (and its Moon Pie partner) on my Tumblr stream.

Two great tastes taste good together: Nashville specialties Goo Goo Cluster and Mini Moon Pie.

So enjoy Carl’s video introduction to the conference; it is embedded down below. The conference may be one you’ll never attend. But the video may provide you ideas about how to make your own events and content come alive, and how to get your viewers or other audience members firing on all cylinders.

For myself, I plan to steal shamelessly from the approaches Carl uses so well. (And I love that long closing tracking shot! Am I crazy, or did I see that used in Alfred Hitchcock’s TV show, when he sat in a high-backed chair far away from us in a looooong room, as the camera crept closer and closer, all while Al told us what we were about to see? Hitchcock fans, let me know!)

And I’d suggest the State Bar of Arizona might want to try an evocative video like his. But until they do, be sure to view what’s coming up at the Bar’s own June convention.

Here’s Carl. Have a great—and Cluster-filled—weekend.

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Marc L. Miller Named Dean of @arizonalaw

Marc Miller, Dean of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law

Here is some news from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law: They have a new dean.

The white smoke emerged from 1201 East Speedway Boulevard yesterday, and here’s how the announcement begins:

“In an email to law faculty and staff, Provost Andrew Comrie said, ‘Marc has the vision and experience to move the college forward in a decisive manner at the dawn of its second century.’ Miller is the 12th permanent dean to occupy the position since the law school was founded in 1915.”

I have met and worked with Dean Miller on numerous occasions, and I look forward to his leadership.

More and more, it’s a challenging time to be a legal education leader. Challenging budgets are perhaps the least of law deans’ worries. More troubling is the declining interest in the law exhibited by the smartest university graduates. Law schools try and try, but demonstrating the J.D.’s value to potential applicants is an increasingly tough sell. And don’t get us started on law school debt.

I always enjoy my conversations with Arizona’s law school deans, which we reproduce as Q&As in Arizona Attorney Magazine (here’s our most recent, with ASU Law Dean Doug Sylvester). Knowing Dean Miller, it will be a robust dialogue.

So get your questions ready or send them to me now. What should I ask Dean Miller about the law school, law education or the legal profession generally?

And be sure to read the complete news story about Dean Marc Miller here.

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