Designed for practicing attorneys, this CLE program traces the historical development of one of the legal profession’s core commitments: the assurance that every litigant appears before a neutral decision-maker and an independent judiciary.

Beginning with the ancient doctrine of nemo judex in causa sua — the notion that no one may judge their own dispute — the course follows how this principle matured within English legal history, from the Magna Carta and the Act of Settlement of 1701 to the influential work of Montesquieu and Blackstone, before becoming embedded in the architecture of the U.S. Constitution.

Through close engagement with constitutional text, foundational American cases, and key milestones such as the Judiciary Act of 1789, participants will examine how the Framers designed structural protections to safeguard impartial adjudication.

The program concludes with an attorney-focused review of early twentieth-century due process decisions confronting judicial and institutional bias, culminating in discussion of the Nuremberg “Judges’ Trial,” where the imperative of judicial neutrality was tested on the international stage.