Judges from Kazakhstan Speak to Boyd School of Law Audience

Relentlessly continuing to improve an embryonic judicial process constituted the core issue discussed October 21 at the Boyd School of Law by a distinguished panel of judges from Kazakhstan, a county that declared its independence from the Soviet Union only 18 years ago.

Co-sponsored by the Boyd School of Law and Lloyd George, the highly respected senior federal district judge for the district of Nevada, the event elicited a large crowd of students, faculty, and local attorneys.

Among the reforms mentioned by the panel are the introduction of jury trials, closer conformity to international law, a moratorium on death sentences, updated technology, better qualified judges, and a three-tier judicial system with trial courts, an intermediate appellate court, and a court of final appeal. At bottom, the reforms were designed primarily to increase protection of individual human rights.

The panel comprised four judges. Akhmetbek Bakhybekovich Bezhekenov, Eastern-Kazakh Regional Court, focuses on uniting analysis and practice in court cases studying the sphere of illegal drug-trafficking and psychotropic substances.

Togzhan Saylauovna Shapakhova, Mangistau Regional Court, is secretary for the plenary meetings of the court and a widely published scholar.

Lyaylya Madenovna Takisheva, South-Kazakhstan Regional Court, publishes works regularly in the media and concentrates on uniting court practices.

Roza Kayrollovna Zhakudina, Akmol Regional Court, is an expert in theoretical foundations of the law.

Sponsoring Judge George has lectured on legal topics nationally and internationally. After serving on the Federal Bankruptcy Court for a decade, he was appointed a federal district court judge in 1984 where he eventually served for five years as chief justice and was granted senior status in 1997.

After the birth of their son Doug, Judge George and his wife LaPrele, became champions for persons with disabilities and an inspiration for their families. Among a plethora of other activities and contributions, the couple cosigned the mortgage for the first building of the Clark County Association of Retarded Children, which today has become Opportunity Village, Nevada's largest private, not-for-profit community rehabilitation program, serving more than 3,000 persons a year.

Boyd Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research Steve Johnson gave a warm welcome to the visitors in his opening remarks, and Professor Dmitri Shalin of the Department of Sociology served as moderator.