Morris K. Udall Inn of Court

Dear Members:

As we approach the beginning of the 2007-2008 session of the Morris K. Udall Inn of Court, I want to share with you information about our Inn and our monthly meetings.

We have 76 active members comprised of 28 Masters (those with over 15 years of practice), 14 Barristers (those with 6-15 years of practice), 20 Associates (those with less than 6 years of practice), and 14 law students.

A timely report by security expert Bruce Schneier takes a look at electronic voting machines and echoes many of the concerns raised by Pupillage 3’s December presentation.

Last week in Florida’s 13th Congressional district, the victory margin was only 386 votes out of 153,000. There’ll be a mandatory lawyered-up recount, but it won’t include the almost 18,000 votes that seem to have disappeared. The electronic voting machines didn’t include them in their final tallies, and there’s no backup to use for the recount. The district will pick a winner to send to Washington, but it won’t be because they are sure the majority voted for him. Maybe the majority did, and maybe it didn’t. There’s no way to know.

Electronic voting machines represent a grave threat to fair and accurate elections, a threat that every American — Republican, Democrat or independent — should be concerned about. Because they’re computer-based, the deliberate or accidental actions of a few can swing an entire election. The solution: Paper ballots, which can be verified by voters and recounted if necessary.

Read the complete article here: http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0611.html

At our October chapter meeting we had a wonderful presentation on Morris Udall and the history of our Inn.

Now we have available a video of the meeting. To view the video on the website, go to this page.

You can also view a windows media version and a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation .

Please let us know if you would like a copy of the DVD version, which is higher quality but too large for web distribution.

If you have problems accessing these materials, please contact us.

Udall Inn member Professor Jack Chin (or Jackie Chan, as the interviewer calls him) shows his Constitutional Kung Fu on the Daily Show. Click on the video entitled “Hawk the Vote” to view.

Dear Members:

Before we start the 2006-2007 session of The Morris K. Udall Inn of Court, I want to inform you of some changes intended to improve our Inn of Court (IOC) experience.

We have 78 members. Our membership is 29 Masters (over 15 years practice), 16 Barristers (5-15 years practice), 19 Associates (0 – 5 years practice), plus 14 law students.

1. Getting to Know Each Other

Members tend to socialize with those who they already know, often taking an opportunity to socialize with old friends, which, of course, is a great benefit of our IOC.

However, that benefit often results in members not socializing with members who they do not know. Thus, the opportunity to meet someone new is lost.