Spencer to serve on rules panel

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University of Virginia law Prof. A. Benjamin Spencer has been named to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules of the U.S. Judicial Conference.

The Judicial Conference is the principal policymaking body of the U.S. courts and is charged with developing amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Spencer, an expert in civil procedure and federal jurisdiction, officially received the news in a letter last week from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Spencer will serve a three-year term beginning Oct. 1, working with Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the committee’s chair.

“For proceduralists, this is the principal group of people who superintend the body of rules around which our field revolves,” Spencer said. “The rules are a vital component of ensuring that litigants’ disputes are resolved in a just and efficient manner.”

The Civil Rules Committee is one of the U.S. courts’ five advisory committees that evaluate proposed rules amendments meant to make the courts run more smoothly and equitably.