PRESIDENT'S CORNER

BY JANET MENDEZ (iNGHAM)

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season, and is smoothly settling back into the grind of work.  There will never be a shortage of families that need our attention, that’s for sure.
 
Continuing Judicial Education: We are now officially half-way through our first two-year cycle of the new continuing judicial education requirement.  This would be a good time for everyone to check in and see how they are doing on their requirements. Just a reminder to everyone that every two years, we need to have 24 hours of continuing judicial education credits.  18 hours need to be in the areas of Judicial Practice and Related Areas, and the other 6 need to be in the areas of Integrity and Demeanor (Ethics). The best way to stay up-to-date on your status is to regularly log into your CE Broker account. Everyone should have received an email last January, or shortly after their  start date if they were hired later in  the year, prompting them to set up their CE Broker account. If anyone has NOT received such an email or otherwise set up their account, please let me know and I will put you in touch with resources to help you get set up. If anyone is still short on credits in either area, you have two fantastic resources that should help you reach your requirements. First and foremost, thanks to the very hard work of Kate Weaver and Sahera Housey, RAM is one of the approved providers of CJE training. Everyone should make every effort to plan on attending our annual conference in May (this year we will be in Midland, MI), where you will not only network with your fellow referees from across the state, but you will also earn credits towards your CJE requirements. Second, MJI offers monthly webinars specifically for CJE training. Not all webinars are directly on-point with the work that we do, but all count towards your CJE requirements.

Getting Involved: For anyone looking to get more involved as part of a New Year’s resolution, please know that there are several opportunities to get more involved directly with RAM. We have several committees and sub-committees that could use more volunteers. We particularly like to see volunteers from some of the under-represented areas of the state. Many of the committees and sub-committees meet over Zoom, and some do not formally meet at all, so geographical location and/or an inability to travel should not deter you from volunteering. For a list of the current committees and sub-committees, please visit our website. And feel free to reach out to me if you have a particular interest, and I will put you in touch with the right person. If you have an issue in mind that you think RAM should consider addressing, feel free to let me know that as well, and I can raise the issue with the Board for further discussion. If anyone loves to write and doesn’t get enough of it in your daily routine, please consider contributing to The Quarterly by volunteering to write an article or two.  We love to see new perspectives and new ideas for interesting subject-matter from our fellow members. If you have an idea or would like to get more involved with The Quarterly, please reach out to Tyler Martinez.
 
That’s all for now.  Everyone stay warm, and stay safe.