Blankwell, lets hope he is a better judge then all the others, with all the assistance that he thinks he needs There are none so blind as those who will not see William and Leader Dog Lynard timelord09@xxxxxxx ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry D Keeler To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, January 12, 2015 4:26 PM Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: Bernstein Pledges Fairness on Supreme Court What a goof! With all the tech available and the ability to take your own notes, I think the job could be done without an extra aide! And, counting steps! When was the last time any of us did that! Maybe when we were 2 and were learning to count! And, modifying the conference room, what a joke! Sometimes, I need a little more room but sounds like they all take a lot of stuff with them so, shouldn't be an issue! ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, January 12, 2015 4:04 PM Subject: [msb-alumni] Bernstein Pledges Fairness on Supreme Court God, this makes me ill! So, he claims to be independent, but he needs an extra full-time staff-member. He reads Brille but doesn't use it--Yeah man! I understand it is bulky, has he ever heard of refreshable Braille? And, counting steps; I think in forty-five years of independent travel, there is only one area shere I counted steps. Now, how many of you, even working for supposedly enlightened emplooyers would have been offered a job if you needed a full-time assistant? Bernstein pledges fairness on Supreme Court Michigan's Supreme Court will convene this week to hear oral arguments with a new jurist on the bench who made history the minute he was elected. Justice Richard Bernstein says he already feels the weight of legacy as the state's first blind justice. But it's a legacy he embraces, because his greatest hope other than being a fair jurist for the people of Michigan is that his position opens doors for other people with disabilities in Michigan. "I genuinely believe as a blind person I was created this way for a reason," he says. "It's not easy. It's incredibly challenging, incredibly difficult. But at the same time, it makes your life incredibly fulfilling. If I hadn't been born blind, I would not have lived my life with the same sense of mission and focus and purpose. Lansing State Journal Columnist Louise Knott Ahern spent several hours with new Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein on his first official day on the job. It's a few days after the New Year, and Richard Bernstein is sitting at the conference table inside his chambers at the Michigan Hall of Justice , his new office for the next eight years. Most of the building is empty, a post-holiday lull still hanging over the marble columns and mahogany desks. Not inside his office, though. His staff has been working nearly every day since he raised his right hand on Jan. 1 and took the oath of office on the steps of the Capitol. His only complaint so far is the quiet. In his old office -- where he worked cases on behalf of people with disabilities alongside his famous family of attorneys at The Law Offices of Sam Bernstein -- he would have had 40 phone calls by 11 a.m., he says. The phone hasn't rung once in his chambers. Maybe it's just too soon after the holidays. But it's not too soon for him to be working, he says, because starting over in a new job is a different proposition for him than for most everybody else. It takes longer to get acclimated when your orientation means counting the steps from room to room.. It's OK to ask how he does it. He knows people wonder, even if they're afraid to come right out and say it. People have wondered his entire life. They wondered when he attended Northwestern University School of Law, every time he took his spot at the starting line for one of his 18 marathons, when he sat down often by himself at a table in a courtroom without a single notebook. Every time, in every instance, people would look at him and think, how is this going to work? He'd rather people ask than just assume it can't be done. If the world can see a blind man sitting on the Supreme Court, he says, then maybe it won't seem so farfetched for a restaurant owner or an office manager to think about filling their next vacancies with a blind candidate or a deaf candidate or a candidate with some other disability. "Disabled people know what we can do," he says. "We just have to be given a chance. I'm a blind person who is a Michigan Supreme Court justice. Is it challenging and hard? Absolutely. But am I going to get this job done and do it well? Absolutely. The Supreme Court has made a few accommodations for Bernstein and will continue to do so as needed, said Justice Bridget Mary McCormack, who was assigned as Bernstein's unofficial mentor in the court. His attitude is there are some things they will simply have to figure out as they go along, she said. Like, for example, the conference room. That's where most of the work of the Supreme Court is done, where justices gather for hours to discuss cases. They're used to a certain routine, McCormack said. She and most of the other justices come in with multiple devices laptops and tablets alongside reams of notes to refer back to during discussion. Bernstein will have none of that. They're exploring possible adaptive technologies, but they have to see how things go first. "There are things we'll have to do differently," said McCormack. "If we're all looking at an agenda, we can't just say, 'OK, let's go to item number two. He's not going to know what that is. So, instead, we're going to have to review for him, 'This is the case of the People vs. Smith.' He requested and was granted one special accommodation an additional staff member. Justices are usually allotted five staff members. Bernstein will have a sixth -- his long-time personal aide, Tim MacLean. MacLean has been with Bernstein for five years and does a little bit of everything. He drives Bernstein, travels with him, helps him with countless other tasks. Perhaps most importantly, MacLean reads to him. Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein smiles while talking to others as he sits at the bench inside the courtroom at the Hall of Justice on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal) Bernstein doesn't use braille. He can read it. He knows it. But he doesn't use it in his work. It's too cumbersome. A five-page legal document becomes 20 when translated into braille. Computers and technology are great to a point, and there are many things available for his use. But what works for him is this: MacLean reads to him, and Bernstein memorizes. Everything. Actually, Bernstein says, it's more than that. He calls it internalizing. It's not a matter of just knowing the words but understanding them, how they all fit together, how they complement and contradict, how they apply to other cases, other laws. "It blows my mind day in and day out to work with him," MacLean said. "He is remarkable in his ability to ingest material and remember it. Just as soon as I think I've found a pattern about how long he needs to hear something to learn it, he surprises me. Let's say we're on the fifth reading of a 40-page brief, I'll think he's going to need to hear it again. He'll regurgitate it to me almost verbatim. They average 15 hours a day of work. They started reviewing the current cases before the court the day after the November election so he would be prepared for oral arguments, which start Jan. 13. He commutes from his home in Birmingham to Lansing every day, and a lot of reading and internalizing happens then, he says. "I think he lives his life by one quote," MacLean said. "'To whom much has been given, much is expected. He lives by that every day of his life. Which is remarkable, because a lot of people would think that if I have a disability, I haven't been given much. He sees it as, 'What can I do to make this world better, to make my circumstance a beacon of light for other people? Lynn Seaks, administrative specialist with the Michigan Supreme Court, helps Justice Richard Bernstein put on his robe before entering the courtroom last week. Bernstein, who is blind, was elected in November to serve an eight-year term. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal) In 1998, as the end of law school neared, Bernstein signed up for 65 interviews with visiting law firms. He didn't really want to work for any of them. He had a job waiting for him at the family firm, where he planned to open a public services division -- a luxury he says he is thankful for every day of his life. But he requested the interviews because he wanted the experience of being a blind man in the job market. To feel what it was like to be passed over, even though he was qualified, because it was probably just easier to not consider him for a job, he says. "How many call backs do you think I got? He pauses to wait for an answer. Two? Five? Twenty? "Zero. Not a single call back," he says. He wants to make one thing clear. "My advocacy days are over," Bernstein says. "I am not here to advocate or to legislate. I am here to interpret. I am here to be a rule of law judge. To apply the facts to the law. But if his presence on the court can strip away some of the mystery that surrounds what it means to be blind, to live blind, to work blind, he'd be perfectly fine with that. "I'm desperately hoping someone will look at my story and say, you know what? I'm going to hire a disabled candidate," he says. "I hope they will realize, yes, they might have to make some accommodations, but they are small. Modest. And if you are willing to do that, you will get some of the best employees you could ever hope to have. That's one of the most exciting things about this position, he says. "The people of the State of Michigan gave me a job. Louise Knott Ahern is a columnist at the Lansing State Journal. Follow her on Twitter: @weezwrites Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein sits at the bench inside the courtroom at the Hall of Justice last week. Bernstein was elected in November to serve an eight-year term on the court. He is the Michigan's first blind Supreme Court justice. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal) About Justice Richard Bernstein Attorney Richard Bernstein, 41, was elected to an eight-year term on the Michigan Supreme Court in November, making him the state's first blind justice and one of just three blind high court judges in the nation. He was nominated by the Democratic party. He hails from a famous legal family. His father is personal injury attorney Sam Bernstein, and Bernstein has spent his legal career working in the family law firm in a public services division he created. He graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in 1999 and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1996. Bernstein previously held elected office on the Wayne State University Board of Governors.