Visits of Foreign Jurists:
At the request of various national and international agencies, over the past 30 years both the Greenbelt and Baltimore Courthouses have hosted more than 1,000 foreign judges, prosecutors, court personnel and jurists. The visitors have come in groups ranging from a few to 20 to 25 from more than 100 countries. Their interests have included, among other things, court and case management, criminal and civil procedure, criminal trial techniques, employment law, labor law, mediation and international child abduction.
Typically, the groups come for a half a day, during which they meet with Judges of the Court and other court personnel, as well as with representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Federal Public Defender, and the Office of the U.S. Marshal, and occasionally with experts from outside the Court brought in to address particular issues.
Judge Messitte (Greenbelt) and Judge Bennett (Baltimore), as former members of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference, as well as Judge Alquist (Baltimore), have been the principal coordinators of these visits.
The Court has received consistently positive comments from these visitors and looks forward to welcoming other such groups in the future.