Today's DJ has
Retired justice Patricia Benke champions classic mediation model -- Now a neutral with ADR Services, retired 4th District Court of Appeal justice Justice Patricia D. Benke encourages joint sessions, creative problem-solving and careful written analysis drawn from nearly four decades on the bench.
- Retired justice Patricia D. Benke spent nearly four decades on the bench and authored more than 400 published appellate decisions. "When I retired, West's gave me volumes for everything I worked on, ... and there were six volumes of cases," Benke said with a chuckle. "And those are just the published ones."
- Benke worked for 35 years as an associate justice for the 4th District Court of Appeal before retiring in the summer of 2021.
- Along with her reference, arbitration and forthcoming mediation work, Benke has also been helping attorneys strengthen their appellate case arguments through moot courts. "It's not a matter of just listening [or] giving practice to the attorneys. It's shaping the case," Benke said of her moot court approach. "It's saying, 'Wait a minute. This is what you need. This is the line you need to lead [with] when you come out and when you first talk.'"
