A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Each year, the Federal Judicial Center Annual Report summarizes the programs, projects, reports, publications, and other resources the Center delivered that year. The focus of the report is understandably on what the Center produced. This year I draw particular attention to the people responsible for that production.
They are an extensive group. The Center’s Board provides support and guidance for all the Center’s work. The Board members are listed on page 2. Center advisory committees help shape the content and participate in the delivery of our programs and other resources. Their names are listed on pages 14–15 of this report. The Foundation Board, listed on page 13, ensures that any gifts to the Center are properly reviewed. There isn’t space to list the many people who serve as teachers, facilitators, authors, reviewers, and informal advisors, but their contributions to the Center and those we serve are immense.
The talented and dedicated people who work at the Center bring together a wide range of expertise and experience to produce the resources this report describes. They share a commitment to the judiciary and to the Center’s mission “to further the development and adoption of improved judicial administration in the courts of the United States.” Their names are listed on page 4 of this report.
Thanks to the efforts of all these people, the resources described in this report are widely used, valued, and respected. One measure of this is that demand for Center services far outstrips our capacity to meet all of it.
In each Annual Report since 2008, we have listed the names of Center staff members. A careful examination of the 2008 list alongside this year’s reveals one reason for our success. Fifty-three of the one hundred and thirty names on this year’s list were on the list in 2008. In other words, forty percent of Center personnel in 2024 had been here since 2008 or earlier—in some cases much earlier.
That the names don’t change too much from one year to the next reflects that our people tend to stay at the Center for long periods—on average about fourteen years. Along with the talent and dedication I mentioned above, their deep understanding of the judiciary and its people informs our work and helps ensure its relevance.
At the same time, change is inevitable and valuable. As much as we miss longtime colleagues when they depart, we know we must build on the contributions they have made. The Center has consistently recruited and retained highly qualified and committed people who combine new ideas with the same commitment to excellence as those who preceded them.
I feel enormously privileged to work with all the people who work at and with the Center. I thank them for their outstanding service to our courts and our country.
John S. Cooke