The FJC’s mission includes a mandate to share information with the judiciaries of other nations. How does the Center do that?

We work closely with the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations. Our mission is to work with judiciaries from other countries to spread the Rule of Law.

Usually the Center is on the schedule for visiting judges. They visit the Supreme Court, they come here, and to the AO, then they go to the courts. The Center’s International Judicial Relations Office recently launched a webpage on FJC OnLine with background on the Center as well as resources on the U.S. courts for judges and court officials from abroad.

Many emerging developing judiciaries are very interested in setting up Centers like the Federal Judicial Center. They want to know: how do you set up a Center? What’s the best way to staff it? Who should run it? The message we deliver is that a judicial training center should always be independent. Judges should educate judges. Then they want us to come and help them. I’m going to Ghana in October with two members of my staff. The Center does not have the money for international travel. We often work with the State Department, or USAID. In this case, we’re working with Fordham Law School.

Ghana emerged for two reasons: In terms of African judiciaries, it is probably one of the most advanced. And they have a fabulous Chief Justice, a wonderful woman who is vitally interested in improving their judiciary and dealing with their problems.

The Center’s international work is not limited to developing countries. In fact, the Center is expected to bring back information about foreign judiciaries to the U.S.

There is a project with Argentina where the Center has assisted with the development of a training series and a publication on the use of scientific evidence in the courts.

What is the Visiting Foreign Judicial Fellows Program?

Each year the Center hosts a small number of independently funded judges and legal scholars from other nations who spend one to six months at the Center conducting research in an area related to judicial administration. We have a judge here for four months from Afghanistan as part of the Program. That’s been wonderful. He’s working on a criminal trial bench book for Afghan judges modeled on the FJC Benchbook.

Resources are limited. How does the Center do everything it must do?

I wasn’t Director of the Center during the times when our budget was being cut and we couldn’t fill positions. That was very hard. Every time a suggestion for a new program came up, the Center had to be concerned about resources. We didn’t have enough manpower, and it takes a lot of manpower to put on a program.

We’re still asked to do more than we can do and sometimes we can’t do, all the programs we’d like to do. But over the last few years, Congress has been good to us.

We have recently ended a long hiring freeze and been able to hire new people—young people, all technically savvy—and they all have training in distance learning, webcasting, all the new media. So it’s like a shot in the arm. For the first time in several years, we can hire some additional people and expand our capabilities. I am just the lucky person who is Director at the time when we can do all this.

What is the current relationship between the FJC and the AOUSC?

In a word, excellent. Our agencies regularly coordinate and collaborate on a wide range of projects and issues. We each have distinct missions, but ultimately we both exist to serve the courts. We can maximize that service only by working closely with each other to ensure that we use our own limited resources wisely and effectively. And we are doing that, throughout both agencies, including at the top. Jim Duff and I have a wonderful relationship. He has been a magnificent leader for the AO and I enjoy working with him.

I understand the Center will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. Any plans for a celebration?

The Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon is helping us celebrate our 40th Anniversary. With a program on September 18-20. They called us and said, ‘We know you’re coming up on a 40th Anniversary. We would love to do something for it.’ And we said, sure. I just looked at the program and it’s fabulous.