When she was named Director of the Federal Judicial Center in 2004, Judge Barbara Rothstein had no idea of the depth of talent at the Center. Four years later, she's focusing that talent to serve a changing federal court system.

Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., has appointed six new Judicial Conference Committee chairs and extended the terms of two current chairs. They'll head committees that address and advise the Judicial Conference on a wide variety of issues.

Who gives the best advice to judges on how to pull information from the case management/electronic case files system, work with hyperlinks in opinions, create events calendars, or use e-mail? Turns out, it’s other judges.

The Victim Notification System (VNS), an automated system used by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to notify more than 1.5 million registered federal crime victims of developments in their cases, will add more data on court events thanks to a cooperative venture with the federal courts. The Judicial Conference approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the DOJ to develop an interface between the federal Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system and DOJ’s VNS.

On behalf of the Judicial Conference in July, Judge Mark R. Kravitz testified in opposition to the bill, the Sunshine in Litigation Act, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. The Conference opposes H.R. 5884 and its companion bill in the Senate, S. 2449, because they bypass the Rules Enabling Act process established by Congress.

Linda Greenhouse retired in mid-July following a 40-year career with the New York Times covering the U.S. Supreme Court and, on occasion other aspects of the federal Judiciary. She sat down recently with the AO's Dick Carelli to share some observations on the federal courts.

Provisions to enhance the recruitment and retention of well-qualified attorneys to serve the public as federal defenders are included in a bill recently signed into law by the President. H.R. 4137, the “Higher Education Opportunity Act,” became Pub. L. No. 110-315 on August 14, 2008, with a provision extending to federal defenders the ability to participate in the cancellation of Perkins student loans. The Judicial Conference proposed the provision.