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President of Nevada Bar Encourages Judges and Attorneys to Work Together in Pursuit of Fair and Impartial Justice
3/29/2007

Heather Singer, NJC Communications Specialist

President of the State Bar of Nevada, Rew R. Goodenow, spoke March 28 to an audience of more than 75 people during The National Judicial College’s Jackson Lecture in the College’s Tom C. Clark Auditorium.

“You can’t order people to respect the rule of law,” explained Goodenow during his lecture, entitled Bench and Bar: Partners for Fair and Impartial Justice. “What we need to do – judges and attorneys – is work together to educate our fellow citizens on the importance of judicial independence.”

Audience members consisted of judges attending courses at The National Judicial College as well as staff, faculty and local residents. The NJC’s Jackson Lectures are held in honor of Justice Robert H. Jackson, a 1940s Supreme Court Justice best remembered for his role as chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg War Trials. The NJC presents these lectures three times a year at the end of each two-week General Jurisdiction course for the course participants as well as community residents.

Goodenow focused on the advantages of judges and attorneys working together in pursuit of fair and impartial justice. He illustrated many ways in which judges and attorneys could assist the other in helping the judicial process run more smoothly and efficiently. One advantage, Goodenow pointed out, was in communicating with the public.

“Citizens need to hear from us how the system directly affects them,” he said. “Leading our fellow citizens by teaching provides us a way to give back to our communities.”

In addition to serving as president of the Nevada Bar, Goodenow practices law with Parsons Behle & Latimer in Reno, Nev., specializing in all phases of business development and operations, from start-up to market leader. He holds an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating given. In addition to extensive experience successfully negotiating and completing business purchases and sales, and other business transactions, Goodenow has served as lead counsel in state and federal trial courts and courts of appeal in complex and ordinary business and corporate litigation. He represents banking and other financial institutions in bankruptcy court.

As the principal author of Nevada’s Limited Liability Company Act, and of the treatise Nevada Business Entities, Goodenow counsels clients in a broad range of complex business, financial and real estate transactions. He serves on the editorial board for the ABA Journal and as general counsel for the Nevada Republican Party. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. He is admitted to practice in Nevada, Iowa, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for Nevada and the U.S. District Court for Iowa.

The Jackson Lectures are held three times a year in memory of Justice Jackson, who was born in Spring Creek, Penn., on Feb. 13, 1892. He never went to college, but attended Albany Law School for a year. He obtained most of his legal education under the old apprenticeship system as a law clerk and did not get his law degree until after he was named as a justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, when he was awarded an honorary degree by Albany Law School.

Justice Jackson was invited by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve in the New Deal government, first as General Counsel to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and later as solicitor general and attorney general. He took his seat as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on Oct. 6, 1941, and served until his death in 1954. Justice Jackson is best remembered for his vigorous decision and wisdom.

The decision to honor Justice Jackson with this lecture series was made by his friend and Supreme Court colleague, Justice Tom C. Clark, chairman of the Joint Committee for the Effective Administration of Justice and one of NJC’s founders, for whom NJC’s auditorium is named.

President of the State Bar of Nevada, Rew R. Goodenow, spoke March 28 to an audience of more than 75 people during The National Judicial College’s Jackson Lecture