National Conference of Judges Coming to Cleveland in 2017: Cleveland is on a Roll after the Cavs and the RNC

Sep 22, 2016

The 2017 Annual Conference for the American Judges Association will be held at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel next September, thanks to Cleveland’s turnaround and plenty of persuasive lobbying by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Joseph J. Zone.

Contact: Ed Ferenc, Public Information Officer
Cleveland Municipal Court
216 664 6787 / 216 789 2597
[email protected] www.cmcoh.org

(Cleveland, Ohio)—The 2017 Annual Conference for the American Judges Association will be held at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel next September, thanks to Cleveland’s turnaround and plenty of persuasive lobbying by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Joseph J. Zone.

“As judges, we give people second chances all the time and certainly Cleveland deserved a second chance. I kept getting complaints that no one wanted to come back to Cleveland, but that has all changed now,” said Judge Zone, who serves on the Associations Board of Governors.

Since the Cavs won the NBA Championship and the city’s hosting of the Republican National Convention, there has been much positive exposure for Cleveland and Judge Zone expects a good turnout at the conference, which will run from September 11-15 in 2017.

Typically such a gathering will generate at least 200 judges and guests.

The American Judges Association (www.aja.ncsc.dni.us) was originally founded as the National Association of Municipal Judges (NAMJ) in 1959 at Colorado Springs, Colorado, by 30 municipal court judges. As the association's membership grew to include judges from other types of courts and from a wider geographical area, its name was changed to the American Judges Association in 1973. Currently, AJA has a membership exceeding 3,000 members, which includes both present and former judges of courts of all jurisdictions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and The Virgin Islands. Its Board of Governors is composed of representatives from fourteen districts.

The objective and purpose of the Association is: to promote and improve the effective administration of justice; to maintain the status and independence of the judiciary; to provide a forum for the continuing education of its members and the general public; and for the exchange of new ideas among all judges.