Director of non-partisan think tank to speak April 23 on reforming New York courts as part of IJPM lecture series

Director of non-partisan think tank to speak April 23 on reforming New York courts as part of IJPM lecture seriesApril 16, 2008Jaime Winne Alvarezjlwinne@syr.edu

Dirk Olin, executive director of the Institute for Judicial Studies, will speak on Wednesday, April 23, at Syracuse University as the final speaker of the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media’s (IJPM) semester-long lecture series “Law, Politics and the Media.” His lecture, “Reforming the New York Courts,” 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.

The Institute for Judicial Studies is a non-partisan, non-ideological think tank devoted to collecting and disseminating data on the performance of judges. In addition to his role with the institute, Olin is founder of Judicial Reports.com, an online reporting service covering developments within the state and federal judiciary, starting with the New York metropolitan region. He is the former national editor of The American Lawyer and a longtime legal and political journalist for The New Republic, Mother Jones and The New York Times Magazine. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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 have been 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 Corporation 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.

For more information on the “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series and IJPM, visit http://jpm.syr.edu.