SBM Blog

Watch video of the SBM 21st Century Practice Task Force Town Hall

If you weren't able to make it to the State Bar of Michigan 21st Century Practice Task Force Town Hall on January 29, but would still like a chance to participate in the conversation, you're in luck.

Video from the Town Hall is now available at bit.ly/21ctownhall in a six-part playlist. To watch all six videos, simply click play on the first video and the rest will play in order. Or, to watch any one of the videos, click the headline of the video and then play. 

To participate in the ongoing conversation about the future of law practice, submit your comments at www.michbar.org/generalinfo/futurelaw.

SBM Law & the Media Committee Panel Hosts Discussion on Police Use of Body Cameras

The State Bar of Michigan Law and the Media Committee will host a panel discussion called “Body Cams: Competing Issues of Transparency, Privacy, and Constitutional Rights” from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on March 9 at the Spencer M. Patrich Auditorium at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. The Wolverine Bar Association will cosponsor the discussion.

A recent survey conducted by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs' Association found that up to 95 percent of large police departments in the U.S. plan to implement a body camera program in the near future.

A panel, moderated by Michigan Press Association General Counsel Robin Luce-Herrmann, and comprised of M.L. Elrick, reporter for Fox 2 Detroit; Rodd Monts, field director for ACLU of Michigan; Benny Napoleon, Wayne County sheriff; Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association; and Christopher White, member of Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality; will discuss issues police departments face when creating policies to govern implementation of body cameras.

The panel will address how the use of body cams could affect law enforcement, privacy protection for people caught on body camera footage, access to captured footage, costs related to handling the footage, rules for the proper use of body cameras by police officers and how to handle violations of those rules.

For more information, contact SBM Communications Manager Samantha Meinke at [email protected] or (517) 346-6332.

Governor Appoints Elmore to the 61st District Court

Governor Rick Snyder appointed Christina Elmore to the 61st District Court in Kent County. 

Elmore is currently a solo practitioner in Grand Rapids, handling misdemeanors, felonies, family law, criminal cases and civil matters. She has also served as a judge advocate general for the U.S. Air Force, as an assistant prosecutor in the Kent County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and as an assistant attorney general, with a focus on prosecuting people for failing to pay child support. Elmore has taught military law as a professor at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree at Tulane University Law School. 

Elmore fills the seat vacated by Judge Donald Passenger and must stand for election in 2016 for a full six-year term.