“Why Judges Go Bad and How the Media Can Help Keep Them Honest”

Robert Tembeckjian is administrator and counsel of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. A graduate of SU, Fordham University School of Law and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Tembeckjian was a Fulbright Scholar to Armenia in 1994, teaching graduate courses and lecturing on constitutional law and ethics at the American University of Armenia and Yerevan State University. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and is a member of the editorial board of the Justice System Journal. He previously served on the advisory committee to the American Bar Association commission to evaluate the model code of judicial conduct, as a trustee of Westwood Mutual Funds and the United Nations International School, and on the board of directors of the Civic Education Project. He has also served on various ethics and professional responsibility committees of the New York State and New York City Bar Associations, and has published numerous articles in legal periodicals on judicial ethics and discipline.The Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media (IJPM) at Syracuse University has announced its Spring 2010 lecture series on “Law, Politics and the Media.”Today’s American judicial system operates in a complex environment of legal principle, political pressure and media coverage. The series provides an introduction to the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study and features speakers from a variety of legal, political and media backgrounds, including practicing lawyers, published authors, leading scholars and court researchers. “Law, Politics and the Media” lectures are free and open to the public. They take place from 3:50–5:10 p.m. in Room 204 of the Syracuse University College of Law. Paid parking is available in SU pay lots.The lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media cross-listed between the College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The course is taught by SU professors Keith Bybee (IJPM director) and Roy Gutterman (IJPM associate director), and funded through support from the John Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corp. of New York.