U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Rosemary Pooler to speak April 9 on judicial ethics as part of IJPM lecture series

Jaime Winne Alvarez
315-443-3784

U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Rosemary Pooler will speak on Wednesday, April 9, at Syracuse University as part of the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media‘s (IJPM) semester-long lecture series “Law, Politics and the Media.” Her lecture, “Judicial Ethics,” will take place from 2:30-4 p.m. in Room 204 in the SU College of Law. It is open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

Pooler is a federal judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1998, at the time of her appointment, she was U.S. district judge for the Northern District of New York. A former visiting professor at SU College of Law from 1987-88 and vice president for legal affairs of the Atlantic States Legal Foundation from 1989-90, Pooler became a justice of the Supreme Court in the Fifth Judicial District for the State of New York in 1990 and served in the position until becoming U.S. district judge for the Northern District of New York in 1994.

Following graduation from law school, Pooler conducted private practice law in Syracuse from 1966-72 and later served as assistant corporation counsel/director of consumer affairs for the City of Syracuse from 1972-73. From 1981-86, she was a member of the New York State Public Service Commission; in 1987, she was staff director of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions of the New York State Assembly.

Pooler received a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

The American judicial system today operates in a complex environment of legal principle, political pressure and media coverage. The goal of the “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series is to provide an introduction to the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study. Throughout the spring semester, sitting judges, practicing lawyers and working journalists will be featured speakers.

The lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media that is cross-listed between the College of Law and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The course is taught by SU professors Keith Bybee (IJPM director), Lisa Dolak (IJPM associate director) and Mark Obbie (IJPM associate director), and funded through support from the John Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corp. of New York.

Launched in September 2006, IJPM is an academic institute devoted to the interdisciplinary study of issues at the intersection of law, politics and the media. A collaborative effort of the College of Law, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Newhouse School, the institute sponsors lectures, conferences and symposia designed to foster discussion and debate among legal scholars, sitting judges and working journalists.