PRESEIDENT'S CORNER

BY KATE WEAVER (OAKLAND)

Happy New Year Referees!  2024 promises to be an exciting year, and in many ways, represents a fresh start and advancement for our organization.  To start the year off, make sure that you have renewed your membership.  The 2024 RAM application is available now.  Our small membership fee covers many benefits including our website:  https://www.referees-association.org/  Membership fees also help to support the publication of the RAM Quarterly, organizing and maintaining a robust legal discussion on our listserv, and our annual conference.  Being a member of RAM provides you with access to a network of colleagues across the state.   The resources our organization provides help us provide support to one another.

In other RAM news, our organization has been approved as an accredited organization by the Michigan Continuing Judicial Education Board to provide required training to our members.  Judicial officers are required to achieve twenty-four (24) hours of continuing education with two years, so our term runs from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025.  12 hours of the 24 hours are allowed to be virtual while the other 12 hours are required to be in person.  Each judicial officer should have received an account log in to track their hours from CE Brokers.  If you have not, please reach out to Jonah Sjoquist ([email protected] ).

We look forward to seeing everyone at our RAM Conference at the world famous Grand Hotel, May 15-17, 2024, on Mackinac Island.  Registration information has been emailed to all members. 

In order to make RAM the best organization possible, we need our members to get involved in order to maintain its sterling reputation.   We hope that you will consider participating beyond paying your annual membership fee.  We have a vacancy on the RAM board, openings on various RAM committees, feature articles are needed for the Quarterly publication, and we encourage continued participation on our listserv and active use of our new website.  We have regularly appointed members to committees throughout the state including but not limited to: Judicial Ethics Committee, 2Gen Advisory Committee, SAVES workgroup, Juvenile Justice Partnership Committee, Commission on Well-Being, Michigan Workload Assessment Committee, and Family Court Plans Work Group.  We are looking for a co-editor that can write a brief committee update column with updates from our representatives.  If you have wanted to do more but weren’t quite sure when to jump into the deep end of the pool – now is the time!