On October 30th, Professor Keith Bybee was recognized as the first Judiciary Studies Professor in the newly created Paul E. and The Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professorship at Syracuse University College of Law.  The professorship was created through the leadership and financial commitment of Paul E. and the Hon. Joanne F. Alper and it will fund Bybee's scholarly work, research, and academic initiatives relating to judicial legitimacy, court independence and the intersections of law, politics, and the media.  Judge Alper has been an active supporter and proponent of IJPM since it's inception.

September 24-25, IJPM, together with the Federal Judicial Center and SU College of Law, hosted a Law and Media seminar for more than forty federal judges from across the country.  The judges heard from IJPM Director Keith Bybee who presented on public perceptions of judiciary.  IJPM Associate Director Lisa Dolak discussed her case study on legal reporting, "Intellectual Property Law in the Media Mirror," and IJPM Senior Advisor Mark Obbie presented about the quality of legal journalism and how to improve it. The first day concluded with a conversation with the Honorable Jon Feldman, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, and the Honorable Leonie Brinkema, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, about managing high profile trials.  The second day of the conference, Professor Rakesh Anand discussed judicial ethics and maintaining faith in the rule of law and professors Paula Johnson and Janis McDonald discussed the Cold Case Justice Initiative as an example of collaborative relationship with the judiciary and the media.

Syracuse University College of Law provided one of the two academic reading groups that evaluated now Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's written work as part of the American Bar Association's evaluation of her qualifications for the position of Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  IJPM Associate Director Lisa Dolak acted as chair of this group and IJPM Director Keith Bybee also served on this reading group.  Sotomayor's qualifications were reviewed in the areas of integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament; the criteria on which the ABA's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary (SCFJ) rates all federal judicial nominees.  This marks the second time the SCFJ has tapped the College of Law to support its evaluation of a Supreme Court nominee.  The first time was in 2005 for Justice Samuel Alito.