NEWS RELEASE

The National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue · Williamsburg, Virginia  23185

Contact:
Lorri Montgomery
Communications Manager
The National Center for State Courts
757.259.1525 or lmontgomery@ncsc.dni.us 

Robert L. Haig Joins
 Lawyers Committee of National Court Reform Organization

Williamsburg, VA (March 8, 2004) – Robert L. Haig, partner with Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, has joined the National Center for State Courts’ Lawyers Committee, which involves prominent practicing attorneys in the National Center’s work and programs. Committee members serve in a leadership role with a commitment to: support the National Center’s mission, actively participate in outreach to the bar and the legal community, and encourage support for the National Center’s programs and initiatives. Inaugural meetings were held recently in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco in conjunction with the midyear meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices.

Haig’s practice includes commercial, products liability, and other civil litigation in state and federal courts. He is a former President of the New York County Lawyers’ Association and the current President of the New York Bar Foundation. He co-chairs the Commercial Courts Task Force that New York’s Chief Judge appointed to create and refine the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court. He also has been active in efforts to create business courts in many other states and counties.

Haig has written and lectured extensively on various litigation topics. He is Editor-in-Chief of three multi-volume treatises. In 1991, Haig became the only New York lawyer to receive the Award for Excellence in Continuing Legal Education from the Association of Continuing Legal Education Administrators. In May 1995, the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section presented Haig with the Section’s first annual Robert L. Haig Award for Distinguished Public Service. The Section has named this Award after Haig and presents it in his name each year.

The National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., is a non-profit court reform organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to the state courts. The National Center, founded in 1971 by the Conference of Chief Justices and former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, provides education, training, and technology, management, and research services to the nation’s state courts. The National Center also is taking the lead on several key issues facing the justice system. For example, it has established a major civil justice initiative, a multi-year project that is examining best practices in civil case management and how complex litigation procedures can be improved. Other national initiatives being driven by the National Center include judicial selection reform and increasing citizen participation in jury service.

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