• Image of Alli Gerkman
    Alli Gerkman
November 6, 2011
Larry Ribstein comments on changes in corporate legal services, which find companies first doing away with the law firms as middle men and the then restructuring internal legal teams and “embedding” lawyers throughout the organization.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
Two constitutional amendments have been proposed to move away from merit selection for appellate judges, a statutory process that sunsets in 2012. But since the constitution cannot be amended until 2014, the state bar association called for the legislature to extend the Tennessee Plan in the meantime.
  • Image of Alli Gerkman
    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
The late Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who served on the O'Connor Advisory Committee and was a recipient of the Transparent Courthouse® Award, is now being honored by the Ohio Supreme Court, which is naming the Ohio Judicial Center after the second-longest serving justice in Ohio's history.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
A second supreme court justice announced plans to not seek reelection when his term expires in 2012. Chief Justice Paul De Muniz announced his retirement intentions in October.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
During a series of panels that comprised a Defending Iowa’s Courts event, the executive director of the state ACLU chapter described an organized national effort to dismantle judicial merit selection processes. The panel also discussed legislative attacks on Iowa’s courts in the wake of the Varnum v. Brien decision and expectations that the other supreme court justices who joined the unanimous opinion in the case would see retention challenges in 2012 and 2016.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
House Speaker Dean Cannon announced that he would not seek major changes to the judiciary in the 2012 legislative session. In the 2011 session, Cannon unsuccessfully proposed a constitutional amendment that would have split and expanded the supreme court. Instead, voters in 2012 will only weigh in on whether to require senate confirmation of supreme court appointments.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
Governor Rick Perry has made more appointments to the supreme court than any other Texas governor. While he has been praised for diversifying the court, his appointees have been characterized as business-friendly and results-oriented. Since 2000, defendants such as oil companies, insurance firms, and other big businesses have won 75% of cases brought by consumers.
  • Image of Alli Gerkman
    Alli Gerkman
November 4, 2011
The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel recently highlighted Rebuilding Justice:" A provocative and important portrait of the American judicial system, Rebuilding Justice is a call to action for all citizens – lawyers and non-lawyers alike, stressing the need to support and protect this crucial cornerstone of our democracy."
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    Alli Gerkman
November 3, 2011
President Obama nominated supreme court justice Andrew Hurwitz to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. If Hurwitz is confirmed, Governor Brewer will have the opportunity to make her third appointment to the five-member court.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 3, 2011
This week, Rebecca Love Kourlis contributed a guest post to the National Law School's Forum on Legal Education: But, of course, systemic change doesn’t happen overnight. Progress will be incremental. The people who can make it happen are the deans and law professors who are committed to the best possible education for tomorrow’s lawyers.
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    Alli Gerkman
November 2, 2011
The Fall 2011 edition of Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly is now available. Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly is a quarterly newsletter reporting...
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    Alli Gerkman
November 1, 2011
This article from the Colorado Lawyer discusses the 2011 conference on evaluating appellate judges and its outcomes. In 2010, a number of states saw...