A Baton Rouge state judge who attended a weeklong continuing legal education event in the Republic of Panama at taxpayer expense is defending her actions, saying the experience was intellectually stimulating and invaluable. Daily Report last week reported that state District Judge Trudy White’s excursion cost at least $2,300, including a stay at an oceanfront hotel and airfare. That price does not include the registration fee for the seminar, which ranged from $750 to $1,000, depending on the time of registration. “The seminars at the CLE of Louisiana are on the cutting edge of substantive discussion of issues that I face as a judge of the 19th Judicial District Court,” White writes in a statement to Daily Report. “While my primary assignment is criminal, I do have a civil docket. The panelists are very accomplished in their fields. The sessions are the most interactive and engaging of any seminars that I have attended since I became a member of the judiciary.” She added that the downtime to speak with federal and state judges was “invaluable.” White says the Panama sessions are the only ones she plans to attend this year outside of Baton Rouge, adding that she was scheduled for duty during the Louisiana State Bar Association/Louisiana Judicial College Summer School offered in June in Destin, Fla., as well as the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Bench Bar Conference last week at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, Ala. — Penny Font
Today’s poll question: Do you think continuing education trips abroad for state and local officials are a waste of taxpayer dollars?
