News

Pennsylvania to Participate in National Dialogue This Weekend

May 14, 1999

Trust and Confidence in the Justice System — an event whose highlights will include the release of national polling about public attitudes about the courts. The goal of the historic occasion is to create a national action plan to boost public trust and confidence by providing a sense of direction and encouragement to each state court system across the nation. About 450 people are registered for the conference on Friday and Saturday at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Hotel. Scheduled speakers include U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. A list of issues for discussion that are common to most states based on public surveying will be released Friday by Frank A. Bennack Jr., president and chief executive officer of The Hearst Corp., which funded the work. (Please see the separate, attached release.) Pennsylvania's delegation to the conference includes: · Phyllis W. Beck, Superior Court Senior Judge, who chairs the delegation · Nancy M. Sobolevitch, Court Administrator of Pennsylvania · Legrome Davis, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge · Lawrence Werner, Ketchum Public Relations managing director and member of the Judicial Council of Pennsylvania · Louis Teti, Pennsylvania Bar Association president · Lynn Marks, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts executive director In addition to the six people attending the conference, Pennsylvania Bar Association Immeidate Past President Leslie Miller also is a delegation member who has participated in discussions leading up to the event. "Our participation in this conference is a recognition of how important it is to maintain public trust and confidence in an effective judicial system," said John P. Flaherty, chief justice of Pennsylvania. "In Pennsylvania's case, the conference will serve to build on the recent re-establishment of the Judicial Council of Pennsylvania and the ongoing work of the Pennsylvania Futures Commission on Justice in the 21st Century as indicators of the Judiciary's keen interest in this subject." Conference planning began in May 1998 with the creation of the national advisory group to identify key issues of concern to the judiciary and proposed strategies. The broad-based coalition of business, legal and grass-roots groups interested in judicial effectiveness began developing a plan for the conference to address those concerns. The Pennsylvania delegation has relied on some of the work already created by the Pennsylvania Futures Commission to assist with the development of a list of public trust concerns. The commission — which is chaired by Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Justice Stephen A. Zappala — is examining how to continue to have an efficient judicial system in a rapidly changing society. The Public Trust and Confidence conference will represent the culmination of three national meetings on the judiciary and the public. The first meeting, "Bulwarks of the Republic: Judicial Independence and Accountability in the American System of Justice," was held in December in Philadelphia during a productive gathering that included more than two dozen chief justices or their designees. Sponsors of the event include the National Center for State Courts, American Bar Association and League of Women Voters along with the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators. A subsequent conference is expected to be held next year.