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   2001-01-05:  Judges-Jewish  Ethics 


San Diego
     County
San Diego

United Jewish
      Federation

 
The Jewish Citizen

Six Jewish judges to compare 
U.S. law and ethics with 
Torah, Talmud thought

San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, Jan. 5, 2001

 
San Diego (special) -- Five San Diego County judges and one retired New Jersey judge, all Jewish, will be panelists at a special meeting of UJF's Cardozo Society (named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo) on Monday, Jan. 29, to compare modern day ethics with Torah and Talmud teaching.

Rabbi Arthur Gross Schaeffer, who teaches business law and ethics at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, will pull from his files some interesting cases and ask each of the judges to briefly comment on them from an ethical and practical standpoint. Thereafter, Schaeffer plans to elucidate on those cases from the standpoint of halacaha, the Jewish law.

The judicial panelists include local U.S. District Court Judges Cynthia G. Aaron and Barry Moscowitz, retired U.S. District Court Judge H. Lee Sarokin of New Jersey, and San Diego Superior Court Judges Victor Bianchini, Bonnie Dumanis and Harry M. Elias.

Attorneys may earn three professional learning units for ethics by participating in the three-hour program which, if previous programs put on by Schaeffer are a guide, will deal with such issues as one which attorney Robert Lapidus and his wife, Susan Lapidus, recently heard discussed at a family getaway at Camp Ramah.

Before O.J. Simpson came to trial, but after the case became widely known throughout the world, a certain charity was about to have a fundraising dinner. Simpson was a member of the charity's board of directors. Other board members debated whether they should exclude Simpson's picture from the printed program. Some said any association with a man accused of two brutal murders would hurt the charity; others said Simpson by law was innocent until proven guilty and any attempt to prejudge his case would be inappropriate. Using Jewish sources, Schaeffer suggested that the proper thing to do would have been to leave off the names and pictures of all the directors, not just Simpson's.

The fee is $50 for the course, including dinner, to be conducted at the San Diego County Bar Association's Bar Center, 1333 Seventh Avenue. Information may be obtained from Susan Lapidus at the United Jewish Federation offices at (858) 792-9043. -- Donald H. Harrison