Printer-Friendly Page

Oklahoma City, OK – A delegation of five Russian judges will visit Oklahoma from September 16-23 to examine the U.S. judicial system and meet with their American counterparts. The visit is part of a unique rule of law program sponsored by the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress. The visiting Russians will be hosted in Oklahoma by District Court Judge Stephen P. Friot (W.D. Okla.) and the Rotary Club of Oklahoma City. Appellate Court Judge Robert H. Henry (10th Cir.), who also serves as Chair of the Committee on International Judicial Relations of the Judicial Conference of the United States, Open World’s partner organization in the federal judiciary, is playing a key role in hosting this visit.

The Russian delegation is comprised of judges from two regional courts and a city court ranging geographically from western Russia to Siberia. The delegates are Judge Olga B. Aganesova from the Vologda Regional Court; Judge Tatyana A. Batunina, Judge Andrey V. Kaplyuk and Judge Vladimir N. Zhukov from the Tomsk Regional Court; and Pskov City Court Judge Andrey Y. Yefremov.

While in Oklahoma, the Russians will visit the University of Oklahoma College of Law, the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City University Law School, and the Oklahoma Historical Society. They will be welcomed to Oklahoma by Dr. Edward J. Perkins, the William J. Crowe Chair and Executive Director of the International Programs Center at the University of Oklahoma. The delegates will participate in several colloquia with local lawyers, judges and professors, including Professor Peter F. Krug. In an event sponsored by the Federal Bar Association, guest panelists Jonathan Turley from George Washington University Law School and Susan Estrich from the University of Southern California Law School will participate in a panel discussion regarding trial tactics. The delegates will also attend a reception hosted by former Oklahoma Senator David L. Boren, President of the University of Oklahoma.

Open World is a unique, nonpartisan initiative of the U.S. Congress that builds mutual understanding between the emerging leaders of participating countries and their U.S. counterparts. The program also exposes delegates to ideas and practices they can adapt for use in their own work. Founded in 1999 with a focus on Russia, Open World expanded in 2003 to include pilot exchanges with Lithuania, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Delegates range from judges to mayors, from innovative nonprofit directors to independent journalists, and from political party activists to regional administrators. More than 11,000 Open World participants have been hosted in all 50 U.S. states. The program’s administering agency, the Open World Leadership Center, is a legislative branch entity with offices at the Library of Congress.

Open World’s specialized Rule of Law program is the largest U.S.-Russia judicial exchange. Launched in 2001, it has brought more than 900 Russian jurists to the United States for professional visits conducted by federal and state judges and law schools. These study trips feature direct observation of court proceedings; roundtables with U.S. judges; workshops with court staff; briefings with law enforcement officers; mock trials; legal seminars; and tours of prisons, crime labs and law firms. Participants not only learn the basics of U.S. judicial procedures, but also gain insight into how the American political and court system promote judicial independence and the rule of law.

For more information on the Washington visit, please contact George Felcyn of The PBN Company at 202-466-6210. For more information on the Open World Program, please visithttp://www.openworld.gov.