Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren can add one more achievement to her impressive resume – published author. Available March 6, 2018, A Court of Refuge: Stories from the Bench of America’s First Mental Health Court tells the story of how the first dedicated mental health court in the United States grew from an offshoot of Judge Lerner-Wren’s criminal division more than 20 years ago, held during the lunch hour and without the aid of any federal funding. More than 20 years later, there are more than 400 mental health courts nationwide.

The hardcover book, published by Beacon Press, is available at Barnes and Nobel and Amazon.

The granddaughter of honoree Attorney Raleigh Rawls attended the Circuit’s Black History Month: Broward’s Legal Firsts program in mid-February, as part of the Urban League’s National Achiever’s Society of Broward County. She and her Achiever comrades were able to see first-hand how hard work and perseverance benefited the honored “Broward’s Firsts,” making the possibility of serving in the courts in the near future a concrete possibility for the students.

Judge Diaz recently participated in Career Day at Millenium Middle School where he spoke to five classes about a career in law.

Click here to view interviews of the 11 honorees that were celebrated during Black History Month: A Celebration of the Black Legal Community, “Broward’s Legal Firsts”

Last week, the Seventeenth Circuit hosted its 93rd Drug Court Ceremony and celebrated 161 graduates of the felony drug court program.