The State Bar of Michigan's Open Justice Commission is celebrating its first anniversary in September at the State Bar's Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids. A special series of programs will be held during the Annual Meeting to highlight open justice issues. Those interested are encouraged to attend one or more of these presentations on Wednesday, September 15, 1999 from 2:00 - 5:00 in the afternoon. The presentations are as follows:

2:00 P.M. "JUSTICE FOR ALL -- BRINGING THE COURTS AND OUR COMMUNITIES TOGETHER"
Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth is the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court and a nationally recognized authority on public trust and confidence issues in the legal system. She is the moderator of the National Consortium of Task Forces and Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts.

3:00 P.M. "NOT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD - HATE CRIMES IN MICHIGAN"

Saul Green, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive Director of the Triangle Foundation Donald Cohen, Anti-Defamation League of Michigan

4:00 P.M. "PROMOTING ACCESS: ACHIEVING AND EMBRACING DIVERSITY IN MICHIGAN'S LAW SCHOOLS"

Hon. Conrad Mallett, former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court Jeffrey Lehman, Dean, University of Michigan Law School Hon. John Logie, Mayor of the city of Grand Rapids

Chaired by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly and Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Harold Hood, the Open Justice Commission is charged with the mission to create initiatives and implement programs focused on the reduction or elimination of bias and discrimination based upon gender, race, ethnic origin, religion, sexual preference or disability. The Commission over the last year has adopted 27 projects and an annual report will be submitted to the State Bar Board of Commissioners to outline the progress being made in accomplishing this mission.

For more information about the Open Justice Commission or the upcoming programs, please contact Judy Hershkowitz at the State Bar of Michigan, 1-800-968-1442, ext. 6335.