PICTURED ABOVE: JUDGES FROM THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN JUDGES TRAVELED TO DUKE FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO ACCEPT THE 2023 BOLCH PRIZE FOR THE RULE OF LAW.
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
When I accepted the position of director at the Bolch Judicial Institute in 2022, I knew the role would be challenging and rewarding. But I could not have predicted just how much I would enjoy it. The opportunity to advocate for the things I cherish — the rule of law, judicial independence, and more efficient and effective court operations, in our country and abroad — is deeply fulfilling. And doing this work at such a critically important time in our history is a privilege.
This report contains an overview of our activities this year. Through publications, courses, seminars, conferences, multimedia productions, and events, we provide educational opportunities for judges that aren’t available elsewhere. We connect the bench, bar, and academy to study the challenges our courts face and share solutions to problems. We engage students — tomorrow’s judges and lawyers — so they will more deeply appreciate the work of our courts. With each program, we stand for judges, for the courts, for the rule of law — and we bring more rule of law champions to our cause.
From welcoming women judges from around the world to the 2023 Bolch Prize event, to hosting our first Judicial Rule of Law Fellow, to expanding our international programs and launching a civic education initiative, this year has been a whirlwind of the best kind. We could not do it without the support of our generous donors. Thank you for your commitment to this work. We are inspired by your faith in our mission to protect the pillars of the democracy we cherish and to marshal the best resources of our practice, the academy, and the judiciary to strengthen our courts, protect judges, and advance the rule of law.
Best wishes to you for a wonderful 2024.
Judge Paul W. Grimm, David F. Levi Professor of the Practice of Law and
Director, Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School
judicial education
The Master of Judicial Studies LLM Program
This summer, the Bolch Judicial Institute welcomed 21 judges and justices (pictured above with Dean Kerry Abrams and others) as they began two years of rigorous study to complete Duke Law’s Master of Judicial Studies degree. A hallmark of this program is the diversity of judges and justices that make up each cohort. Read more »
The Mass Tort MDL Certificate Program
We held our Mass Tort MDL certificate course online in November 2022, with more than 100 participants engaging in virtual panel discussions about the lifecycle and management of mass tort MDLs. The course saw an uptick in registrations among law students and judges — indicating growing interest in the topic among the bar and bench and perhaps appreciation for a course that did not require travel. A number of participants also attended the advanced MDL certificate program on campus in May in conjunction with the McGovern symposium. Learn more »
The McGovern Symposium on Civil Litigation
The Bolch Judicial Institute’s McGovern Symposium has become the premier annual gathering of leaders in MDL and mass tort litigation, and the 2023 program was no exception. Top lawyers, judges, and scholars gathered at Duke Law to discuss new and emerging challenges in the field. Topics for this year included the impact and legacy of the pivotal Vioxx case; proposed rule changes affecting mass harm litigation; MDLs and bankruptcy; and the future of the field.
Trauma-Informed Courts Initiative
The Bolch Judicial Institute, in partnership with the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, created and administered educational programs for state court judges and other court administrators on the effects of juvenile trauma. One program was offered during the state’s training program for new judges, and another brought all of the state’s district court chief judges to Duke. Learn more »
PICTURED ABOVE: AMELIA THORN AND TWO DUKE LAW STUDENTS PRESENTED AT AN N.C. ACES-INFORMED COURTS TASK FORCE MEETING, CONVENED BY CHIEF JUSTICE PAUL NEWBY TO IMPROVE TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE IN THE COURT SYSTEM.
Welcoming the inaugural Judicial Rule of Law Fellow
The Bolch Judicial Institute welcomed Afghan Judge Tayeba Parsa as the inaugural Bolch Rule of Law Judicial Fellow in May 2023. Judge Parsa was among 250 women judges in Afghanistan, having served 10 years as a judge in the country’s commercial, civil, and public rights courts. She was a judge in the Commercial Division of Appellate Court of Kabul Province in August 2021 when she was forced to flee for her life as the Taliban took power. Read more »
Training India’s judges
The Bolch Institute partnered with the CEELI Institute, the U.S. Federal Judicial Center, and the National Judicial Academy of India to present an International Counterterrorism Summit in India in September. The program explored ways to fairly and expeditiously adjudicate terrorism cases. Cristobal Diaz, assistant director of international programs for the Bolch Institute, provided training on interactive teaching methods to assist Indian judges in implementing similar sessions for colleagues in their home courts. More sessions are planned in India for 2024.
judicial scholars & scholarship
Distinguished Judges in Residence
Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston
Debra Ann Livingston, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, was the fall 2023 Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law Distinguished Judge in Residence. During her visit, she joined classes, met with Duke Law students and faculty, presented a talk with Duke faculty on emerging issues in evidence, and joined Paul Grimm for a lunch-hour conversation about her career and time on the bench.
Justice Susan Glazebrook
Justice Susan Glazebrook of the Supreme Court of New Zealand was the spring 2023 Distinguished Judge in Residence. She also joined several classes, met with students from the Environmental Law Society and the Women Law Students Association, and presented a lunchtime lecture, “Climate Change and the Courts: Balancing Stewardship and Restraint,” which was later published in Judicature International. As the president of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), Justice Glazebrook also was the keynote speaker at the Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law ceremony on March 1, 2023, which recognized the IAWJ’s efforts to help evacuate women judges following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Lunch events @ Duke
Peter Kahn, Bolch Institute Advisory Board chair, spoke with Israeli attorney Dov Weissglas (both pictured at right) about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposals to reform Israel’s Supreme Court during an event for Duke Law students in April. It was one of 12 such student events held in 2022-23.
Judicial Administration Roundtable
The Institute again hosted the annual Judicial Administration Roundtable led by Professor Marin Levy. Leading and emerging scholars of judicial studies shared works-in-progress on important questions of court design, procedure, and judicial decision-making. The annual conference has established a reputation as the country’s leading annual program for judicial administration scholars and strengthened Duke Law School’s broader reputation as a leader in the study of the judiciary. Learn more »
LEMKIN RULE OF LAW GUARDIAN
A defender of liberty’s light
Professor Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School received the 2023 Raphael Lemkin Rule of Law Guardian Medal. A prolific writer and scholar, Koh has served in numerous positions in academia and public service, including as Assistant Secretary for Human Rights in the Clinton Administration, the 15th Dean of Yale Law School, legal adviser to the Department of State in the Obama Administration, and the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law, where he continues to teach and represent individuals who have suffered human rights abuses. He is currently among the lawyers representing Ukraine at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Read more »
civic education
Judicature
Now in its 107th volume, Judicature continues to grow in visibility and readership — each edition mails to nearly 6,000 judges and subscribers, and visits to our website have increased more than 250% since 2022, including a 300+% increase in international traffic. A recent reader survey yielded rave reviews from judges, with 95% rating the content and design as good/excellent.
Judicature International
International readers continue to comprise a growing segment of our online audience, thanks in part to Judicature International, which emails each month to more than 2,000 international and U.S.-based readers and features articles examining issues of common interest to the global judicial community.
JUDGE STEPHEN DILLARD (ABOVE), A GEORGIA JUDGE IN MJS CLASS 0F 2025, LIVE-TWEETED ‘A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE DUKE LAW MJS PROGRAM,’ GARNERING THOUSANDS OF VIEWS.
Social media
Social media channels allow us to engage with a broad international community of legal scholars, lawyers, judges, and other interested individuals to advance the Institute’s mission to build awareness of the importance of the rule of law. The Bolch Judicial Institute and Judicature Twitter accounts continued to generate engagement and awareness this year, and even though Twitter (now X) appears to be losing ground with many followers, we still recorded more than 350,000 viewer “impressions.” As the social media landscape evolves, we are shifting resources to LinkedIn, where we already have 1,000 followers, and Instagram, which we will use more regularly starting this spring.
Peer-to-peer civic engagement
The Bolch Institute has launched a pilot project to engage young adults on topics such as how courts and judges work and how to identify and avoid spreading disinformation via social media. Six Duke Law students are developing content that summarizes and cites credible published sources, including legal scholarship, and then they will develop social media campaigns to promote the content with video, infographics, and more. The goal is to reach a young audience that may no longer be in school and does not frequently consume traditional media or news. We’ll test, study, and share our findings with other civic education organizations in the hope that our project can assist others in reaching this important demographic.
THE BOLCH PRIZE
Rescuing Afghanistan’s women judges
PAUL GRIMM WITH IAWJ LEADERS AT THE BOLCH PRIZE CEREMONY.
The International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) received the 2023 Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law during a March ceremony on Duke University’s campus. Awarded annually by the Bolch Judicial Institute, the Bolch Prize honors extraordinary efforts to advance and protect the rule of law. The IAWJ was recognized for its ongoing work to evacuate and resettle 250 Afghan women judges after the Taliban reclaimed power in late 2021.
Women judges in Afghanistan face particularly virulent threats of reprisal and violence under Taliban rule, which has imposed harsh restrictions on women and girls. Women judges had worked to build a democracy, had participated in the development and administration of new courts — including domestic violence courts — designed to bring equality and justice under the law to women and girls, and had dared to sit in judgment of men — all punishable acts under the new regime. Read more »
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