Collins Educates Judges at Texas College for Judicial Studies

(April 2008) Kevin L. Collins, of San Antonio, Texas, helped offer fresh perspectives and tools for the role of administering justice fairly to nearly 100 Texas judges during and advanced judicial training program held at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas, April 16-18, 2008. Collins, a criminal defense lawyer from San Antonio, served on the faculty of the education program of the 2008 Texas College for Judicial Studies.

The Texas College for Judicial Studies is a multi-year program designed to provide advanced educational opportunities to judges who desire to improve their adjudication skills and acquire more knowledge in their jurisdictional specialization. The Texas Center for the Judiciary, and Austin-based nonprofit judicial education group, developed the curriculum which this year includes four specialty tracks; appellate, civil, criminal/juvenile, and family. Judges who currently serve on the bench of a Texas county court at law, district, or appellate court with four years of judicial experience were invited to apply for admission to the College.

Sessions covered topics relating to religion and the constitution; standards of review; interpretation of statutes; the rhetoric of effective judicial opinions; computer-relate evidence; SCRAM and Interlock; search and seizure; issues and charges in business cases; insurance and fiduciary litigation; jurisdiction, venue, statute of limitations, and arbitration; international issues in the parent-child relationship; the world of court appointees; military issues; and ex parte/pr se issues. A diverse faculty of attorneys, well-informed professionals in various other fields, and Texas' most respected judges taught the classes.

In 2006, State Bar of Texas President Eduardo Rodriguez recognized the Texas Center with a Presidential Citation for Outstanding Judicial Education, noting the Texas College for Judicial Studies specifically for increasing the specialized competence of the Texas Judiciary. The same year, the Texas Center received the ABA Judicial Excellence in Education Award, recognizing the superior quality of all Texas Center programs, including the Texas College for Judicial Studies. The Texas Center takes pride in continuing this tradition of excellence in every program it offers.

"We developed the Texas College for Judicial Studies to allow judges to have the opportunity to obtain advanced, specialized training in their jurisdictional area so they can excel on the bench," said Mari Kay Bickett, Executive Director of the Texas Center for the Judiciary. "The creation of the College is in keeping with our mission at the Texas Center- Judicial Excellence Through Education."