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Law School for Legislators set to Air on WGVU-TV

6/16/99

For three hours on January 19, 1999, virtually all of Michigan's 71 first-term state senators and representatives received unique insight into the public policy process through a first-ever "Law School for Legislators" sponsored by the State Bar of Michigan.

This informative and exciting program, recorded in the House Appropriations Committee Room of Michigan's State Capitol Building in Lansing and led by Harvard University Law School Professor Arthur R. Miller, will air on Sunday, June 27, 1999 in an edited one-hour broadcast from 3-4 p.m. on Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo PBS affiliated television station WGVU (GR Ch. 35 and Kzoo/Battle Creek Ch. 52).

The purpose of the seminar, presented by the State Bar of Michigan and Grand Valley State University, was to educate newly elected (freshman) state representatives in the process of legislative law and to help them quickly assimilate the subtleties involved in taking an idea from inception to enactment. This process was taught through a role playing debate based on a "school voucher legislation" hypothetical case.

The debate was moderated by Professor Miller, an expert on civil procedure who is known to the public for hosting public affairs shows on PBS. He established a hypothetical set of facts and utilized a blue-ribbon panel of 12, including senior legislators, members of the press and community leaders, to extemporize a "play" based on the scenario.

The featured panelists included:

  • Rep. Jon Jellema, Grand Haven
  • Rep. Patricia Birkholz, Saugatuck
  • Rep. Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit
  • Sen. Virgil Smith, Detroit
  • Rep. Laura Baird, Okemos
  • Sen. Bill Van Regenmorter, Hudsonville
  • Jennifer Granholm, Michigan Attorney General
  • Hon. Charles Levin, Retired Supreme Court Justice
  • Sister Monica Kostielney, Michigan Catholic Conference
  • Kathy Barks-Hoffman, Associated Press
  • Lynn Larson, Michigan Education Association
  • Jeff McAlvey, Lobbyist

For more information about the Law School for Legislators broadcast, contact:

    Nichole Kelley-Korson
    Executive Administrator-Publications
    State Bar of Michigan
    306 Townsend
    Lansing, MI 48933
    (517) 346-6334

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