New York, NY -- Fern Schair, the Chair of The Fund for Modern Courts, a non-profit organization dedicated to making the New York State Court system more efficient, fair and accessible, announced that Dennis R. Hawkins has become Executive Director of the organization.

Mr. Hawkins, who recently returned from Kyiv, Ukraine where he served as the American Bar Association's Regional Anti-Corruption Advisor for the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (CEELI), will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Modern Courts programming, which includes the Citizen Jury Project and the Court Monitoring program.    

Ms. Schair said that, "Leaders at the Fund and Committee for Modern Courts were delighted to have had the opportunity to appoint Mr. Hawkins to this position because of his legislative, bar association, and government experience.

Mr. Hawkins's professional experience includes service as Counsel to the Assembly Education Committee, Counsel to the New York City Fire Department and Counsel to The Association of the Bar of the City of New York . He also was a prosecutor for sixteen years, first with the Special Prosecutor for the New York City Criminal Justice System and then with the Kings County District Attorney.     

"As Executive Director of Modern Courts, Mr. Hawkins will use his considerable experience to advocate for merit selection and the improvement of the existing electoral system for selecting judges, said Ms. Schair. "It is our hope that he will establish effective partnerships with like-minded organizations and individuals, and will continue to build a broad-based coalition for judicial reform in New York State.      

"I look forward to working with all those who support the efforts of the Unified Court System of New York State, under the leadership of Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, to make the courts in New York State a more effective vehicle for the delivery of justice, said Mr. Hawkins. "My time in Eurasia demonstrated that an independent and competent judiciary is essential for the establishment of the rule of law in a democratic society.

Founded in 1955, Modern Courts is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, statewide organization dedicated to improving the courts in New York State through advocacy, public education and in-court programming. Additional information about Modern Courts is available at www.moderncourts.org.