An exhibit aimed at getting students to consider the impact of race, gender and other factors on access to the legal system was unveiled this week during a ceremony at the Michigan Supreme Court Learning Center.
Featured speakers will include Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly and Justice Alton T. Davis.
Kelly announced she was appointing Davis to serve as the Learning Center’s supervising justice.
Entitled “Can you balance the Scales of Justice?”, the interactive exhibit is funded by a grant from the Michigan State Bar Foundation.
The exhibit is believed to be the first of its kind in the country, said Kelly.
“The message of ‘Scales of Justice’ is that the justice system works best when it is fair, accessible, and accountable to everyone, including those who, due to race, ethnic origin, gender, poverty, or other factors, have encountered barriers to the legal process,” Kelly said.
Davis added that the exhibit “goes beyond identifying problems that various groups have had with access to justice. It also asks students to think critically about how we address those problems.”
The exhibit is the work of a committee that was co-chaired by Learning Center Coordinator Rachael L. Drenovsky and Lorraine H. Weber, the Supreme Court’s Director of Access and Fairness. Committee members included Learning Center Docent Candy Chatfield; 24th District Court Chief Judge John T. Courtright; Ingham County Probate Judge Richard J. Garcia; Dr. Timothy H. Little, Professor Emeritus of Michigan State University’s College of Education; Dearborn attorney Antonio Ruiz of the law firm of Saba Ruiz P.L.C.; former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver; and Dionnie Wynter, Assistant Director, Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism, Thomas M. Cooley School of Law.
The exhibit was created by LifeFormations, an art and technology studio whose clients include the Museum of African American History, the Walt Disney Company, and Universal Studios.
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