A profession for the new millennium: restoring public trust and confidence in our system justice.

• Author: Pariente, Barbara J.
• Position: Florida

At least once a millennium, it would seem worthwhile to reexamine why we entered the legal profession. Did we want to make a difference or just earn a living? Maybe both? To the extent we sought to make a difference, there are many ways that we, as lawyers and judges, are able to do so. One of the simplest and most important ways is to pay a visit to schools to educate students on the Constitution, the rule of law, and the justice system--not just in theory, but in practice.

A September 1999 Florida Bar poll revealed that "[a]n overwhelming majority of lawyers and virtually all judges ... still say the public does not have confidence in the legal system."(1) Is public trust and confidence lacking because our system of justice does not meet the public's needs, or does the public not understand how our system of justice operates? The answer to this question is not simple. It is, however, encouraging to learn that the American Bar Association's comprehensive nationwide survey on the U.S. justice system conducted in 1998 found that the more knowledge people have about the justice system, the greater their confidence in the justice system overall.(2) This has been substantiated by other studies.(3)

Rebuilding public trust and confidence in the legal system begins first and foremost with education. We have always known that our system of democracy requires an educated electorate. An educated citizenry is the best protection for an independent judiciary. As Thomas Jefferson expressed more pointedly: "If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be."

As members of the judiciary and the legal profession, we bear a special responsibility to improve the public's understanding of our system of justice. Research has demonstrated that effective use of lawyers and judges in the classroom is critical to the successful impact of law-related education. The recent American Bar Association survey revealed that 75 percent of the respondents who wished to learn more about the justice system stated that they wanted the information to come directly from current or retired judges.(4)

There are additional benefits to judicial participation in such activities. As ABA President Philip S. Anderson stated, "Judges must correct the notion that they are isolated and remote or it will have a corrosive effect on the relationship between the courts and the public."(5) Judicial independence should not translate into judicial isolation.

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