Please join the Davis Polk Leadership Initiative for lunch and conversation with the Honorable Richard M. Berman (S.D.N.Y.) on Wednesday, October 25, at 12:10 p.m., during which Judge Berman will discuss his novel supervised release program, and the successes and challenges of creating change within an existing system.
Drawing on his experience as a federal court judge and a family court judge, as well as his master's in social work, Judge Berman has been piloting a project on court-involved supervised release with the aim of facilitating supervisees' adjustment to reentry after incarceration. While supervisees typically work with the U.S. Probation Office upon release from prison rather than judges themselves, Judge Berman has developed an active approach of personally holding regular check-in hearings with his supervisees. As the Judge noted in his essay for The Regulatory Review, "[t]he goals of these hearings are active listening, encouragement, and assistance with mental health counseling and drug treatment programs, housing, and gainful employment."
Space is limited and RSVPs are required. Please RSVP here by Wednesday, October 18, at 5:00 p.m.
For those interested in diving into the material beforehand, a few readings (including Judge Berman's published reports on this program) are available in this folder, along with a recording of one of his supervised release hearings. You are not required to read or view any of these materials to attend the lunch, but you may find it helpful to take a look at the short Regulatory Review article linked above.
About the Davis Polk Leadership Initiative
The Davis Polk Leadership Initiative (DPLI) helps students become leaders in their careers and their lives. Through courses, fellowship and grant opportunities, programming, and coaching, DPLI enables students to exercise self-awareness, identify values and goals, tackle complex challenges, empower collaborative groups to achieve collective aims, and achieve meaningful impact in the public and private sectors. More information about how the Initiative defines leadership is available here.
