Announcing Our New Podcast: Beyond the Bench

Published for NC Criminal Law on July 11, 2016.

On behalf of the North Carolina Judicial College and the School of Government, I’m pleased to announce the launch of a new podcast about the court system. It’s called Beyond the Bench, and it is intended to be of interest to judges, lawyers, clerks, officers, and others who work in and around the court system. This post provides more detail about the project, but if you are ready to listen, you can get the podcast on the web here, or through the iTunes podcast store or on Stitcher. What’s a podcast? Podcasts are audio recordings that are released periodically in a series. The word is a mashup of “iPod” and “broadcast.” You may have heard of podcasts like Serial or Radiolab. What’s this podcast about? It’s about the court system. There are interviews with interesting people who work in the courts, and there are segments about the law itself. For example, the first episode features an interview with a superior court judge and a discussion with a School of Government faculty member about the law of distracted driving. The first season has five episodes, loosely clustered around the theme of crime and punishment. The second season has a different focus but we’re keeping it hush-hush while it is under development! Is it just for lawyers? No. It has a legal focus but is produced in a way that is intended to be accessible to lawyers and non-lawyers alike. How often will you have new episodes? A short “teaser” episode and a [...]