Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts (PMC) will be hosting its Sixth Annual Judicial Independence Benefit virtually on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at 5:30 PM.

The sixth annual Judicial Independence Benefit will support PMC's work supporting judicial independence and access to justice.

PMC will present the Judge Edmund B. Spaeth, Jr. Award to Robert C. Heim. Bob is one of the co-founders of PMC and chair of our Board. He is also a dedicated advocate of the legal nonprofit community, as well as a former Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, former President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, former lecturer in appellate advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, counsel for judges and the press in many renowned cases, recipient of many awards, retired Captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and leader of Dechert’s Trial Department for twenty years.

David McCraw will be the event's keynote speaker. David is Deputy General Counsel at The New York Times and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. He has been the main legal advisor on most of The New York Times' major stories, including those on the #MeToo movement, Donald Trump's taxes, and the Wikileaks and Snowden disclosures. He also serves as the lead litigation attorney for freedom-of-information lawsuits brought by The New York Times, and as a crisis response manager when reporters are detained or kidnapped. David has been involved in international efforts supporting press freedom and access to information. In 2019, he wrote the book "Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts".