PROFILES

Robert S. Peck Appointed to Board of Directors of National Center for State Courts

Professorial Lecturer in Law Robert S. Peck

March 9, 2006 -- GW Law’s Professorial Lecturer in Law Robert S. Peck was recently appointed to a three-year term to the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts.

NCSC’s board of directors represents all levels and jurisdictions of state courts, the legal profession, and the business community.

“We are very pleased that Robert Peck has joined the National Center’s Board,” said NCSC President Mary McQueen. “As a leader in the legal profession, he brings a wealth of experience to the table.”

Headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., NCSC is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and services to the state courts. NCSC was founded in 1971 by the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger and works to provide education, training, and technology, management, and research services to the nation’s state courts.

Mr. Peck is the first board member to serve who represents the plaintiffs’ perspective. “I’m happy to provide ideas that NCSC might not have always heard on their board,” Mr. Peck said. “They were receptive to these views and that’s important so that the organization can hear from others besides just the biggest law firms and corporations.”

He believes some of the biggest issues facing courts today are financial difficulties, a need for modernization, and security issues. “Courts are facing difficult times,” Mr. Peck said. “Finances are tight and courts can be punished financially when forced to make controversial decisions.

“NCSC has a large role in education and provides a wonderful opportunity to pool resources in order to address common issues and problems in courts throughout the country,” he said. “I’m proud to be a part of something that works towards better efficiency in our courts.”

Mr. Peck’s main career focus is as the president of the Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C. CCL is an independent law firm that is dedicated to challenging laws that impede access to justice. Its attorneys litigate civil justice issues nationwide under the U.S. and state constitutions and have argued cases before both the U.S. Supreme Court and various state supreme courts.

CCL consists of about 10 attorneys including fellow GW Law Professorial Lecturer in Law Steve Pershing, a senior litigation attorney whose career is dedicated to voting rights issues and has previously worked at the Department of Justice and the ACLU. Mr. Peck and CCL have also hired several GW Law graduates over the years.

“We’re introduced to a case when a statute is suspected of being unconstitutional,” Mr. Peck said. Recent cases taken on by CCL include ones involving federal legislation that immunized gun manufacture’s for certain third-party liability and whether the new voting machines in Florida comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s mandate in Bush v. Gore.  “You become an expert on each issue very quickly,” he said. “You use your analytical skills and then learn the law for that case.”

Though CCL and other endeavors take up a large portion of his time, Mr. Peck is able to stay very active in the education of law students. Currently, he teaches a Constitutional Law seminar as an adjunct faculty member at GW Law and also holds this same position at American University. “I get to show the students how the theory is used as part of advocacy and I think they enjoy having the practical aspect brought into the classroom,” he said.

Mr. Peck has a further GW connection—he received his B.A. in political science from the University in 1975. He went on to get his J.D. from Cleveland State University in 1978 (spending his final year at New York University) and an LL.M. from Yale University in 1990.

And if all of these jobs didn’t keep him busy enough, Mr. Peck is also involved in several other legal endeavors and organizations. He chairs the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s Hurricane Katrina Task Force and sits on its governing council, as well as the board of overseers of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice. 

In 2002, the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers recognized Mr. Peck with the S. Victor Tipton Award for scholarly achievement. In the preceding year, the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice honored Mr. Peck with the Public Justice Achievement Award and the ABA’s Trial and Insurance Practice Section presented him with the Pursuit of Justice Award. Most recently, Mr. Peck received the NCSC’s 2005 Distinguished Service Award, presented during the annual meeting of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. 

Recently, he completed a two-year term as president of the Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association, having served as a Supreme Court fellow in 1990-91, which provided an opportunity to be in close contact with the justices. Mr. Peck said he particularly cherishes time he spent with Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.

“What was wonderful about Justice Brennan was his incredible memory,” Mr. Peck said. “He had a charm about him that made you feel like the most important person in the world. And it was amazing to see how he was able to persuade others—he combined impressive social skills with intellectual rigor.”

And besides a distinguished and active career? “Besides the law, my son and family are my hobbies,” Mr. Peck said. Together with his wife, Terre Peck, an established and talented shoe designer who earned her MBA from GW in 1999, they raise their 11-year-old son, in Washington, D.C. 


- Claire Duggan