After a long hiatus, the Court held its semi-annual Bench and Bar Conference last Friday at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The event enjoyed record attendance, with over 1000 members of the bar attending.
The decision to have fewer panels to ensure robust attendance at each panel was smart and the App allowed the moderators to ask questions from the audience in real time (and *mostly* avoided audience members hijacking the discussions with lectures masquerading as questions!)
I know there were complaints about the Gideon panel composition from the criminal defense bar. Still, Judge Williams and Judge Scola made powerful cases for the dire need for more federal funding for indigent representation.
A really nice event put on by Chief Judge Altonaga and Judge Altman. Some pictures below.
Panel on multi-district litigation with Judge Moreno, Judge Ruiz, Judge Rosenberg, Judge Singhal, and Podhurst partner Peter Prieto.
Afternoon plenary session on Gideon v. Wainwright with Judge Williams, Akhil Amar, Judge Scola, and David Howard.
Panel on criminal trials with Judge Marra, Judge Dimitrouleas, Chief Judge Altonaga, Judge Altman, Judge Cohn, and Judge Torres.
Supreme Court Roundup with Neal Katyal and Miguel Estrada.
Panel on civil jury trials with Judge Middlebrooks, Chief Judge Altonaga, Judge Bloom, Judge Altman, and Kozyak partner Ben Widlanski.