Calhoun County Circuit Judge Kelly Luther was one of seven Mississippi trial judges recently completed general jurisdiction training at the National Judicial College.
Trial judges who attended the training April 28 through May 9 are Second District Circuit Judge Christopher Schmidt of Pass Christian, Third District Circuit Judge Kelly Luther of Shady Grove, Fourth District Circuit Judge Carol White-Richard of Greenville, Eighteenth District Circuit Judge Dal Williamson of Laurel, Adams County Court Judge Walt Brown of Natchez, Bolivar County Court Judge Hunter Nowell of Cleveland, and Coahoma County Court Judge Kent Haney of Clarksdale.
Completion of the two-week course is required for Mississippi trial court judges within a year of taking office. A second session is offered in the fall.
Seventy-two judges from across the country participated in the two-week general jurisdiction course at the National Judicial College on the campus of the University of Nevada at Reno.
Eleventh District Chancery Judge Cynthia Brewer of Madison County and Sixteenth District Chancery Judge D. Neil Harris of Pascagoula served as facilitators for the general jurisdiction training.
Judge Brewer has acted as a facilitator six times, and taught a class last year about dealing with self-represented litigants. Judge Harris has acted as a facilitator four times, and has taught classes on ethics, court rules and court security twice via the Internet. Both expect to teach again this fall.
Facilitators lead small group discussions after judges have attended classes. The small group discussions, usually of less than a dozen judges, are intended to answer questions and reinforce the material covered during class lectures.
Pictured at the National Judicial College are, left to right, Judges Kelly Luther, D. Neil Harris, Cynthia Brewer, Christopher Schmidt, Hunter Nowell, Carol White-Richard, Dal Williamson, Kent Haney and Walt Brown.