Syracuse University

To kick off the Spring 2009 "Law, Politics and the Media" lecture series presented by
the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media (IJPM), Justice
Harold F. See Jr., associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, will present "The
Role of Judicial Elections in a Federal Republic" on Monday, Jan. 26, from 3:50-5:10
p.m. in Room 204 at the Syracuse University College of Law. His lecture is free and
open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

In 1996, See was elected associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Prior to
becoming associate justice, See served as assistant professor of economics at Illinois
State University and practiced law with the nationally recognized law firm of Sidley
& Austin. He also served for more than 20 years successively as associate professor,
full professor and Herbert D. Warner Professor of Law at the University of Alabama
School of Law.

See is a member of the American Law Institute, the Alabama Law Institute, the
American Law and Economics Association, the Federalist Society, the American Bar
Association, the Alabama State Bar Association and V.O.C.A.L., a victims' rights
advocacy group. He served as reporter for the Alabama Trade Secrets Acts and the
revisions to the Alabama Trademark Law, and has served as a contributing editor to
the Federal Circuit Bar Journal. He has authored or edited more than 40 books,
chapters, articles and reviews.

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.
Among the scheduled events and speakers are:

• Feb. 2: "The Media in Court" by Jonathan Sherman of Boies, Schiller, &
  Flexner LLP;
  

  
  

• Feb. 9: "Legal and Media Issues in the Nation's Largest Domestic Terrorism
  Trials: The Oklahoma City Bombing" by Jo Thomas, former New York Times
  reporter;
  

  
  

• Feb. 23: "Judicial Elections Through the Eyes and Ears of Voters" by Bert
  Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign;
  

  
  

• March 2: "The Impact of Media Coverage on a Defendant's Right to a Fair
  Trial" by Midwin Charles of Midwin Charles & Associates LLC;
  

  
  

• April 6: "Litigation PR and Crisis Communications" by Robert Bork Jr. of the
  Bork Communication Group LLC;
  

  
  

• April 13: "The Important vs. the Interesting-Reporting & Blogging From
  Court" by Mary Flood, legal reporter at the Houston Chronicle;
  

  
  

• April 20: "Cowboys and Indians Together at Last: Labor and Business Unite
  to Protect Judicial Independence in Colorado" by Chris Nevitt, city
  councilman in Denver.
  

The lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media
that is cross-listed between the College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public
Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. 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 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.