Nearly 100 print and broadcast reporters and editors from across Tennessee have registered to attend the state’s first Law School for Journalists, co-sponsored by the Tennessee Supreme Court and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University.
“The Freedom Forum is a perfect partner for this project since it is dedicated to a free press,” said Chief Justice Riley Anderson, a member of the faculty for Monday’s Law School for Journalists. “Legal issues and the judicial system are complex, yet reporters are expected to understand and explain them with little or no legal training. And, for the most part, they do an excellent job. Those who attend the law school will be better equipped to cover courts, legal issues and legal proceedings. And that, in turn, will benefit all Tennesseans.”
Freedom Forum founder and veteran journalist John Seigenthaler will present opening remarks at Monday’s program. Seigenthaler is a former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and served 43 yeas as a reporter, editor, publisher and CEO of The Tennessean newspaper. He also was founding editorial director of USA today.
Tony Mauro, who covered the U.S. Supreme for Gannett News Service and USA Today for two decades, will deliver the keynote address. Mauro is Supreme Court correspondent for American Lawyer Media. He also writes about the court for The Freedom Forum Online and authored “Illustrated Great Decisions of the Supreme Court,” published last year.
The law school will feature seminars and panels designed to provide useful information to journalists covering courts, the legal system and legal proceedings as their as their regular “beat” and those who may cover courts only occasionally. Journalists who have registered represent urban and rural newspapers, television stations, radio stations and the Associated Press wire service.
Faculty members, in addition to Chief Justice Anderson, are Attorney General Paul Summers; Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Jerry Smith; Circuit Court Judge Barbara Haynes and Chancellor Irvin Kilcrease of Davidson County; attorneys A. Gregory Ramos, Charles Grant and David Raybin of Nashville; journalists Chris Clark of NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Dorinda Carter of WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville, Larry Buser of the Memphis Commercial Appeal and Kirk Loggins of The Tennessean; General Sessions Judge Hansel McCadams of Henry County; Court of Appeals Judge William Koch; Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley; Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Robert Wedemeyer; Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz of Knox County; David Keefe of the Public Defenders Conference; and Vanderbilt Professors Don Hall and Pauline Aranas.
Topics to be covered are an overview of the state and federal court systems; “Covering the Courts 101”; the appellate process; cameras in the courtroom; the legal process in capital cases; and basic legal research. The law school also will feature a panel discussion on “Fair Trial vs. Free Press.”
The law school is a project of the Supreme Court Committee on Public Trust and Confidence In the Courts.