New self-help video assists pro-se litigants in preparing for their day in civil court.

The Broward County Judicial Assistants Association held their installation luncheon last week, naming four new board members. President Kim Oliva, Vice-President Christine Kortabani, Secretary Lizette Marciniak, and Treasurer Claudia Lopez.
Thank you to all the judicial assistants for the hard work you do every day to help keep the courts running smoothly!

Judge Barner, Judge Bowman and Judge Davis served as panel members for the National Business Institute’s “Civil Court Judicial Forum: Advanced Discovery and Trial Practice” seminar held last week in Fort Lauderdale. The discussion centered around the “do’s and don’ts of discovery and trial practice civil court judges want you to know” and offered continuing learning education credits for those in attendance.

Today, June 19, 2019, the Seventeenth Circuit and Broward County celebrated the naming of the “Judge Thomas J. “TJ” Reddick, Jr. North Building” in the central courthouse.
Judge Reddick was a trailblazer in the black community in Broward. He was the first black attorney to open an office and practice law in the county, be appointed to the Broward County Court of Record, and be elected as a Circuit Court judge in Florida.

More than 100 children participating in the Broward Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Explorers program came to visit the central courthouse last Friday. The group spent the morning visiting several different courtrooms and ended the visit with a special presentation by Chief Judge Jack Tuter. Other judges who were involved are: Judge Siegel, Judge Orlando, Judge Kollra, Judge Towbin Singer, Judge Duffy, Judge Usan, Judge Rebollo, Judge Pole, Judge Carpenter-Toye and Judge Kaplan.

The explorers academy works with teens and young adults (14-20 years of age) by allowing them to interact with law enforcement and other community advisors, giving them the opportunity to learn and experience lawful citizenship as they participate side-by-side with law enforcement deputies and civilian personnel in on-going training and community service projects.

The Young Lawyers Section of the Broward County Bar Association held a “Breakfast with the Judiciary” event last Friday, in the central courthouse’s law library. The event offers a relaxed environment in which new attorneys and judges in the Seventeenth Circuit can talk.