Santa Fe National Judicial Summit was a Success: Personally and Professionally!

Congratulations to the The National Judicial College, the Supreme Court of the State of New Mexico  and the New Mexico Court Education Institute for successful collaborative in presenting the National Judicial Summit in Santa Fe from June 8-10, 2026. Judges from both administrative and state courts sitting in the state of New Mexico, along with others from around the country, were afforded the opportunity to attend, incredibly informative sessions, facilitated by experts from throughout the United States.

I was very humbled and honored to lead two sessions that revolved around the issue of trauma and courts. The first was a discussion on the necessity of trauma informed judges and staff. Trauma is pervasive among justice-involved populations and affects behavior, cognition, and health.

Trauma-informed practices improve court outcomes, reduce recidivism, and promote fairness.Judges and court staff must recognize their own potential trauma and secondary trauma exposure.Changing court culture requires leadership, buy-in, and practical resources. 

The second session was judicial wellbeing. Self-care is essential for effective judicial performance and ethical responsibility.Vicarious trauma is inevitable but manageable with awareness and proactive strategies.Institutional and peer support are critical—judges should not suffer in silence.

Practical Well-Being Tools such as Breath work, grounding, visualization, and exercise can significantly improve well-being.

Thank you to the staff at NJC and NMCEI for all their support and offering. such an  amazing program! Hoping even more judicial officers are able to access this educational opportunity in the future. 

On a personal note, I met a judge with whom I played Little League baseball on the Cubs in Panama when we were 9 and 10 years old an attorney. Although we had lunch together, it was not until later, on the 5th floor of the La Fonda, did our conversation revolve around being Air Force brats stationed on Albrook Air Force base in the Canal Zone. We compared life experiences, and found that he went to Curundu Jr. High School and learned how to say 1969 in Spanish from his teacher, my cousin, Ramon Reyes. We shared how riding bikes to the ballfields was just part of growing up and also riding behind the truck that was fanning out a cloud of DDT was what you did. Coming inside when the C-130's flew over spraying pesticides was required, going to the movie theater Saturday mornings for the matinees along with the latest cliffhanger, was a must and living a carefree life in the midst of the epitome of American Colonialism shaped a different view of the world.

When I got home, I scanned a photo and emailed it to him. His response was heartwarming as he identified himself in the photo. I can't remember the date that picture was taken in 1969, but I'm sure we just wanted it done and over. Very grateful to my Mom for insisting on taking the photo so I could share it 5 decades later. We just don't know how a simple decision can impact lives in the future.

I also met an attorney whose office was across the hall from my mentor, Kirby Howlett in the DC public defender system. We also were both influenced by my Criminal Law teacher and Director of the Criminal Law Clinic, teacher at Georgetown, William Greenhalgh. Bill's name is on my certificate for admission to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and he was instrumental in my getting a job with the Colorado Public Defender's Office. Bill told me, "they owed him" for helping prepare an appellate lawyer for an argument on the good faith exception to the warrant clause. I got a similar call years later when he had a student he wanted placed in Colorado and wanted me to put in a good word.

Amazing how brief encounters in comparison with the length of your life on earth can influence life shifting decisions. I don't believe that there is a master plan, a web whose strands we just follow to some predetermined fate. But we make decisions and those thoughts and actions lead us to where we are today. Never really knowing whether, in the long run, any decision is good or bad as the result may manifest in the most innocuous way. I am quite confident that when we act or think with malice, it never turns out in a positive manner, with any resulting actions feeding off the negativity from which it sprang. Making decisions in alignment with our ethics and values lead to positive results in the future, especially when we can say we are honestly taking an action for the purity of the act (not making up a positive story to cover for a negative act). Sure is a lot lighter on the mind and heart when we do so!