Reaching Students Watch video…

                                  Reaching Students
      Watch video introduction
                                  In Sixth Judicial Circuit
      to Justice Teaching
        Transcript of the Video   One School at a Time
                                  S
    Judge Nelly Khouzam,                  tate and national surveys frequently suggest that
    Sixth Judicial Circuit                Americans in general know little about the operations
representative on Justice                 of the American justice system, and they do not
Teaching Select Committee         understand the basic principles underlying our constitutional
    Justice Teaching training     institutions and structures.
    sessions in Sixth Judicial
Circuit                             With this in mind, a major effort galvanized to further
                             law-related education in the State of Florida. The effort ­
    Florida Supreme Court on Justice Teaching ­ is the brainchild of Florida Supreme Court
    Justice Teaching         Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis. The ultimate goal of Justice
                             Teaching is to pair a legal professional (judge, lawyer, or
other law-related professional) with every elementary, middle, and high school in Florida.

      These professionals will serve as
Justice Teaching Resources, available to the
schools to help with classroom visits, teacher                   Training Dates
conferences, in-service training, and other             For those proessionals who have signed up to
law-related education needs.                          participate in the Justice Teaching program and
                                                      have not yet received the program training, the
        The program aims to benefit students          remaining training dates are:
by:
                                                                    Wednesday, Oct. 31
         Promoting an understanding of
                                                                    Wednesday, Nov. 14
        Florida's justice system and our laws;
                                                                    Wednesday, Nov. 28
         Developing critical-thinking abilities
        and problem-solving skills:                   9 a.m. to noon on each of the above dates ­
                                                        Suite 645, 6th floor of the 501 Building, 501 1st
          Demonstrating the effective                   Avenue North, St. Petersburg
        interaction of our courts within the
                                                      1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on each of the above
        constitutional structure.
                                                        dates ­ Courtroom D, Fourth Floor,
       Justice Teaching is organized along the          Clearwater Courthouse, 315 Court St,
geographic structure of Florida's State Courts          Clearwater
Systems. To that end, five regions parallel             Direct questions to Judicial Assistant Vicky
the five judicial districts in Florida: District 1    Bouyoukas at 727-464-3232
(North Florida), District 2 (West-central
Florida, including Pasco and Pinellas counties), District 3 (Miami-Dade and Monroe
counties), District 4 (Palm Beach and Broward counties), and District 5 (East-central
Florida).

       The program is governed by the Select Committee on Justice Teaching. Appointed
by the Chief Justice, the members of the Select Committee consist of the judge
representatives from each of Florida's five judicial districts and twenty judicial circuits. In
addition, the Select Committee membership includes representatives of The Florida Bar,
the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, and the Florida Law Related
Education Association. The District Court of Appeal Judge from each of the five districts will
serve as the lead organizer for that region. For the West Central Florida area, that role is
filled by Second District Court of Appeal Judge Morris Silberman.

                                                  In our area (Pasco and Pinellas counties),
                                           Circuit Judge Nelly N. Khouzam is the lead
                                           contact.


                                           About the Justice Teaching Leader
                                           In the Sixth Judicial Circuit
                                           Judge Nelly N. Khouzam ­ currently the
                                          administrative judge for Civil Division of the
                                          Circuit ­ has sat on the Sixth Judicial Circuit
                                          bench since being appointed in 1994. Last year,
                                          she was presented with the William Castagna
                                          Award for Judicial Excellence, which recognizes a
                                          member of the Pinellas County judiciary who
                                          displays the highest standards of judicial
                                          excellence in knowledge of the law, ethics, civility,
            Judge Khouzam
                                          professionalism and demeanor. And in 2002, she
                                          was named by the American Board of Trial
Advocates (ABOTA) as its Florida Jurist of the Year.
 During her tenure on the bench, she has served in the Sixth Circuit's Civil, Family and
Criminal divisions. Immediately prior to going on the bench, Judge Khouzam was a partner
at Silberman & Khouzam, P.A., a Clearwater law firm where she concentrated her practice
in medical malpractice cases, civil litigation and appellate cases. She previously was a
partner at Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal & Banker P.A. of St. Petersburg and also
worked for two years in Lakeland as staff attorney at the Second District Court of Appeal
 As a faculty member at the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies, Florida Judicial
College and as a speaker at various Judicial Educational Conferences, for the Florida Bar
and local bar associations, she has lectured on jury trials, attorney misconduct, jury
selection, probation, and factors to be considered in sentencing. She has published articles
on business litigation, pre-trial stipulations, medical malpractice laws, and "From the
Bench: Do's and Don'ts of Talking to the Jury." Judge Khouzam has a bachelor's degree in
history from the University of Florida and is a graduate of the University of Florida College
of Law. She also studied at Oxford University in England.