The Federal Judicial Center

The Federal Judicial Center is the research and education agency of the federal judicial system. It was established by Congress in 1967 (28 U.S.C. §§ 620-629), on the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The many speciÞc statutory duties of the Center and its Board fall into a few broad categories:

• Conducting and promoting orientation and continuing education and training for federal judges, court employees, and others;
• Developing recommendations about the operation and study of the federal courts;
• Conducting and promoting research on federal judicial procedures, court operations, and history.

By statute, the Chief Justice of the United States chairs the Center's Board, which also includes the director of the Administrative OfÞce of the U.S. Courts and seven judges elected by the Judicial Conference. The Board appoints the Center's director and deputy director; the director appoints the Center's staff. Since its founding in 1967, the Center has had seven directors. Judge Rya W. Zobel became director in 1995. She was appointed U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts in 1979 but has been resident in Washington since becoming director. The current deputy director is Russell R. Wheeler.

The Director's Office is responsible for the Center's overall management and its relations with other organizations, including state and foreign courts, through the Interjudicial Affairs Office. Its Systems Innovation & Development OfÞce provides technical support for Center education and research. Communications Policy & Design edits, produces, and distributes all Center print and electronic publications, operates the Federal Judicial Television Network, and through the Information Services Office maintains a specialized library collection of materials on judicial administration.

The Court Education Division develops and administers education and training programs and services for nonjudicial court personnel, such as those in clerks' ofÞces and probation and pretrial services ofÞces, and management training programs for court teams of judges and managers.

The Judicial Education Division develops and administers education programs and services for judges, career court attorneys, and federal defender ofÞce personnel. These include orientation seminars, continuing education programs, and special-focus workshops.

The Research Division undertakes empirical and exploratory research on federal judicial processes, court management, and sentencing and its consequences, often at the request of the Judicial Conference and its committees, the courts themselves, or other groups in the federal system. Its Federal Judicial History OfÞce develops programs relating to the history of the judicial branch and assists courts with their own judicial history programs.

The Center makes many of its publications available here on its World Wide Web page (http://www.fjc.gov/pubs.html).

The Board of the Center

The Chief Justice of the United States, Chair

Judge Stanley Marcus, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Judge Bruce M. Selya, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

Chief Judge Jean C. Hamilton, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

Judge Thomas F. Hogan, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Chief Judge Richard P. Matsch, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado

Chief Judge A. Thomas Small, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

Magistrate Judge Virginia M. Morgan, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Leonidas Ralph Mecham, director of the Administrative OfÞce of the U.S. Courts (ex ofÞcio)

Senior Staff of the Federal Judicial Center

Rya W. Zobel, Director of the Federal Judicial Center since 1995, A.B. Radcliffe College; L.L.B. Harvard

Russell R. Wheeler, Deputy Director of the Federal Judicial Center since 1991, B.A. Augustana College; Ph.D. University of Chicago.

James E. Apple, Chief, Interjudicial Affairs OfÞce since 1992, B.A., J.D. University of Virginia; L.L.M. University of Edinburgh.

Ted E. Coleman, Chief, Systems Innovation & Development Office since 1997, B.S. Northwest Missouri State University.

John S. Cooke, Director, Judicial Education Division since 1998, B.A. Carelton College; J.D. University of Southern California; L.L.M., University of Virginia.

James B. Eaglin, Director, Research Division since 1997, B.A. Grambling University; J.D. State University of New York at Buffalo.

Emily Z. Huebner, Director, Court Education Division since 1995, B.A., M.Ed. Goucher College.

Bruce A. Ragsdale, Chief, Federal Judicial History OfÞce since 1995, B.A., Ph.D. University of Virginia.

Sylvan A. Sobel, Director, Communications Policy & Design (formerly Publications & Media Division) since 1990, B.A. Georgetown University; J. D. University of Wisconsin.