The Western District of Michigan Chapter of the FBA is pleased to partner with the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) to present a trial skills program, which will take place in the Grand Rapids Federal Courthouse on June 21, 2023, from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. The event will feature Chief Judge Hala Jarbou, Judge Paul Maloney, Magistrate Judge Phil Green, and Magistrate Judge Sally Berens, along with ACTL and FBA trial lawyers who will provide tips, insights and demonstrations of four trial components; opening, direct exam, cross exam and closing. There is no preparation required for registrants who are invited to come for the day to learn from the judges and the trial pros.
Please register below. A box lunch and light refreshments throughout the day are included in the registration fee.
We are pleased to distribute the Spring 2023 issue of Bar & Bench, our chapter’s quarterly newsletter. You can access the Spring 2023 issue HERE.
We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or feedback, or are interested in submitting an article, please contact our newsletter editor, Charlie Quigg (cquigg@wnj.com).
The Western District of Michigan’s (WDMI) Pro se Prisoner Civil Rights Early Mediation Program (PEM) provides early mediation conferences to assist the parties in settling pro se prisoner civil rights cases, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, without the need for further court action. The WDMI is currently using its Voluntary Facilitative Mediation (VFM) panel mediators, as well as additional mediators selected and trained to handle mediations in prisoner civil rights cases. The program has been very successful, resolving more than 50% of the cases that have gone to mediation. The Court is in need of additional trained mediators to maximize the benefits of the PEM. Accordingly, the Court has asked the FBA’s assistance in identifying and training additional PEM mediators. These additional mediators would be used solely for the Prisoner Early Mediation Program.
PEM mediations are conducted in half-day sessions by zoom on Wednesdays and Fridays. Mediators are free to conduct the mediation from the location of their choice. Through the use of “virtual rooms,” the mediator meets jointly with all parties and/or separately and confidentially with each party and counsel to discuss the issues, with the goal of achieving settlement. As in other mediations, the documents exchanged between the parties and their discussions and negotiations during the mediation conference are strictly confidential. The parties to the litigation are required to make a good faith effort to settle the case based on a fair and reasonable view of the facts and the law.
Our FBA Chapter has a long history of stepping up when the Court needs assistance. Please consider whether, as part of your pro bono commitment, you would be willing to serve the Court and litigants through this important program. If so, please complete the application and return it by April 21, 2023.
We are pleased to distribute the Winter 2023 issue of Bar & Bench, our chapter’s quarterly newsletter. This year, we’ve decided to move to a PDF newsletter rather than the email format we’ve used the past couple of years. You can access the Winter 2023 issue HERE.
We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or feedback, or are interested in submitting an article, please contact our newsletter editor, Charlie Quigg (cquigg@wnj.com).
The Hillman Advocacy Program is returning for its forty-first year in 2023. It will take place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from January 18 through 20, 2023. For background information on Hillman, please visit its website at http://hillmanadvocacy.com.
Click here to access an electronic application form payable via PayPal. If you prefer to pay via a paper check, please submit the paper application, which is available here.
Applications are due by December 30, 2022.
We are pleased to distribute the Fall 2022 issue of Bar & Bench, our chapter’s quarterly newsletter. This year, we’ve decided to move to a PDF newsletter rather than the email format we’ve used the past couple of years. You can access the Fall 2022 issue HERE.
We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or feedback, or are interested in submitting an article, please contact our newsletter editor, Charlie Quigg (cquigg@wnj.com).
We are pleased to distribute the Spring 2022 issue of Bar & Bench, our chapter’s quarterly newsletter. This year, we’ve decided to move to a PDF newsletter rather than the email format we’ve used the past couple of years. You can access the Spring 2022 issue here.
The Spring 2022 issue contains a number of exciting updates and news:
• A reminder regarding the cybersecurity risks all of us face.
• A review of our event with Opera Grand Rapids regarding Stinney: An American Execution, an opera that premiered in Grand Rapids regarding the tragic 1944 execution of a 14-year-old boy following a one-day trial and ten-minute jury deliberation.
• Judge Beckering’s remarks from her formal investiture ceremony held on June 3.
• A welcome to Mark Totten, the new U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.
• A recap of the Women’s Suit Swap held by the Young Lawyers Section in March.
• Our regular roundups of recent district court and appellate decisions.
We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or feedback, or are interested in submitting an article, please contact our newsletter editor, Charlie Quigg (cquigg@wnj.com).
The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan is pleased to announce the appointment of the Honorable Jane M. Beckering as United States District Judge for the Western District of Michigan. Judge Beckering will occupy the seat formerly held by Janet T. Neff, who now serves as a Senior District Judge.
President Biden nominated Judge Beckering on July 13, 2021. The United States Senate confirmed the nomination on December 17, 2021. Chief United States District Judge Robert J. Jonker swore Judge Beckering into office on December 24, 2021, making her the 23rd person—and only the third woman– to serve as District Judge since President Abraham Lincoln appointed the District’s first Judge in 1863.
Judge Beckering has served as a Judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals since September 2007 and as Chief Judge Pro Tempore of that Court since April 2018. Before that, she was a successful trial attorney for 17 years, first at a national law firm based in Chicago, and later as a founding partner of Buchanan & Beckering PLLC in Grand Rapids, focusing on cases involving medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, and wrongful death.
Judge Beckering has a longstanding record of service to the legal community. She has been a leader in the Grand Rapids Bar Association since joining in 1992. For over 25 years, she has contributed to the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, including service as Co-Consulting Editor, Michigan Civil Procedure, since 2012. For the past 20 years, she also has served on the Steering Committee for the Hillman Advocacy Program, a learn-by-doing trial advocacy program sponsored by the Western District of Michigan Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and held annually in the facilities of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Chief Judge Robert J. Jonker welcomed the appointment of Judge Beckering, “We are indebted to the President and the United States Senate for sending us such a distinguished jurist. Judge Beckering knows, loves, and understands the trial process. She will serve with distinction as she has in every other undertaking throughout her career.”
Judge Beckering grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and followed in her grandfather’s and father’s footsteps by becoming a lawyer. She received her undergraduate degree, with distinction, from the University of Michigan and her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She is married and has three children.
Contact:
Melanie Vugteveen, Personnel Specialist
United States District Court, Western District of Michigan
110 Michigan Street, NW, Room 399
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503
Melanie_Vugteveen@miwd.uscourts.gov
616/456-2389
Please mark your calendars for a Zoom Videoconference on Friday, January 15 at noon featuring a panel discussion and Q&A with Chief Judge Robert Jonker and Judge Hala Jarbou for an update on the impact of COVID on court operations and litigation.
Another notice will go out after the holidays with the Zoom link to join the program.
We hope you can join us!
Rebecca Strauss
President
West Michigan Chapter of the Federal Bar Association
“A must-read for all lawyers and judges but also for any citizen seeking
to understand our state’s history and the interworkings and interrelationships
of the governments which serve us.”
–Judge James Robert Redford, Michigan Court of Appeals
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A Lincoln Legacy: The History of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan by David Gardner Chardavoyne with Hugh W. Brenneman, Jr. provides the first and only comprehensive examination of the history of the United States federal courts in the Western District of Michigan. The federal courts were established by the U.S. Constitution to adjudicate disputes involving federal laws, disputes between litigants from different states involving state and federal laws, and to punish violations of criminal laws passed by Congress. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed legislation creating two federal districts in the state of Michigan: the Eastern and Western Districts-the latter of which is headquartered in Grand Rapids and which now encompasses the western half of the Lower Peninsula and all of the Upper Peninsula. With the rapid expansion of legislation passed by Congress, the increasing mobility of society, and the growth of interstate commerce, the federal courts have assumed an important and sometimes dominant role in major litigation today.
David Gardner Chardavoyne is a veteran Michigan lawyer and a legal educator who teaches as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School. He is the author of The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Wayne State University Press, 2012) and a frequent contributor to The Court Legacy, the journal of the Historical Society for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Hugh W. Brenneman, Jr. is a retired United States Magistrate Judge for the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, having served for thirty-five years on that court. He is presently the Court Historian. He is a graduate of Alma College and the University of Michigan Law School, and lives with his wife in West Michigan.
