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 

Patricia M. Hynes Joins
 Lawyers Committee of National Court Reform Organization

Williamsburg, VA (March 8, 2004) – Patricia M. Hynes, of Counsel at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes, and Lerach, 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, to actively participate in outreach to the bench, bar and the legal community, and to encourage support for the National Center’s programs and initiatives. Inaugural meetings were held recently in Washington, D.C. and in San Francisco in conjunction with the midyear meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices

Hynes is a trial attorney who specializes in complex securities and commercial litigation. In 2002, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Hynes a member of the newly formed Charter Revision Commission, to review the city’s Charter to determine where it needs revision. Hynes served as law clerk to Joseph C. Zavatt, chief judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and was an assistant U. S. attorney in the Southern District. Since 1993, Hynes has been included in the “Best Lawyers in America” and is listed in the National Law Journal’s “Survey of the Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America.” She received her law degree from Fordham Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review.

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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