Today, we welcome NYU to the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyer Consortium of law schools demonstrating significant institutional commitment to legal education reform along the lines proposed in the 2007 Carnegie Report, Educating Lawyers. A new course portolio has also been added from UNLV: Advanced Advocacy: Legislative Policy.

We are also pleased to announce that Professor David Thomson will be joining IAALS as our inaugural visiting scholar.

IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and an IAALS board member, recently penned an op-ed in the Denver Post about the lack of prompt consideration of federal court nominees and the dangers it may pose for the federal judiciary.

Our Quality Judges Initiative has also been tracking former North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue's decision to fill late-term vacancies without using the judicial nominating commission, the state's new governor doing away with the commission entirely, and potential changes to Kansas' merit selection system and nominating commision.

In Texas, the Supreme Court has newly adopted a Rule for Expedited Actions (Rule 169), shortly after IAALS concluded its final study of Rule 16.1 in Colorado. We would like to think that our work informed the deliberations in Texas, and we hope that their rule will enjoy greater use and success.

Additionally, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has extended their Pilot Project Regarding Case Management Techniques for Complex Civil Cases for another 18 months.

Sesame Street has debuted a 13-minute, online segment entitled, “Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce,” that shows a pink fairy, known as Abby Cadabby, discussing her parents’ divorce. This segment hopes to fill the void and act as a resource for parents of preschool-aged children who need a tool to help their children handle the transitions that come with divorce.

Subscribe to all Quality Judges Updates