Arizona’s house of representatives passed a bill that would increase from three to five the minimum number of candidates a nominating commission sends to the governor for each judicial vacancy. The constitution calls for the commission to submit at least three nominees to the governor.

Responding to a 6-3 supreme court decision that invalidated a legislative initiative requiring a two-thirds vote for tax increases, three Republican senators proposed a bill that would eliminate four justices from the nine-member court, citing the resulting salary savings.

The national dialogue about changing legal education has proposed many ideas aimed at making the system better, one of which being the outright elimination of the third year of law school. In the wake of this consideration, Luke Bierman, the Associate Dean for Experiential Education at Northeastern University School of Law, offers Northeastern’s Cooperative Legal Education Program (co-op) as an effective, alternative model that makes better use of all three years spent in law school.

The ABA Journal reports that a South Florida judge has approved an out-of-court settlement allowing three people—two women and the gay man they used as a sperm donor—to be listed as parents on a 23-month-old girl's birth certificate. While the two women will have sole parental rights and custody of their daughter, the settlement also gives the sperm donor visitation rights twice a week.

In a recent blog post, Lance Soskin argued that "litigation is a multi-billion dollar industry that favors the wealthy," leaves everyone else significantly disadvantaged, and that the answer lies in the better use of alternative dispute resolution. I take a different approach. While mediation and arbitration certainly have their place, we cannot and should not abandon the system itself. What we need is a justice system that is more accessible, efficient, and accountable.

In its Winter 2013 edition, The Arkansas Lawyer makes the case for a more efficient option for trial by jury in civil cases, and does so by introducing and reprinting an excerpt from A Return to Trials: Implementing Effective Short, Summary, and Expedited Civil Action Programs. The article highlights the diminishing civil jury trial and its impacts on Arkansas and the rest of country, and calls for action to protect this fundamental right.

President Obama appears to be making diversity a priority in his judicial appointments. Of the 35 federal judicial nominees awaiting a Senate confirmation vote, 17 are women, 15 are ethnic minorities, and five are openly gay. Of the judges who were confirmed during Obama’s first term, 37 percent were non-white and 42 percent were women. These figures are notably higher than those of his predecessors.

With marriages involving dual citizenship becoming increasingly common, Forbes contributor Jeff Landers has evaluated how the laws of different countries can compound the complications of divorce. The article warns that the disparity between the practices of divorce courts may have significant consequences on how someone will be treated.

Recently, Examiner.com reviewed a new mobile application called the Healthy Divorce App, designed to educate and advise users on how to get through the divorce process in an emotionally healthy way. The app was created with the intention of making professional mental health assistance more affordable and accessible to those unable or unwilling to see a professional in person.

Over the last two months, the IAALS board of advisers has welcomed several distinguished members to the fold, all of whom are committed to the missions of our Initiatives and the continuous improvement of the civil justice system. We are pleased to add Kenneth R. Thompson II to their ranks.

The oldest advice in the world is that the trick is not in knowing the answers—rather it is in knowing the right questions to ask. Such advice has broad application, and in the current debate about legal education, it is quite possible that the wrong questions are currently on the table. The question should not simply be: why does legal education cost so much? Rather, the question should focus on reassessing and re-measuring the value of legal education.

New York Magazine has published an article discussing the intricate and often difficult path from gay marriage to divorce. The article interviews a recently divorced couple, who describe their relationship and how it ended, and give an intimate insight into the mechanics of “gay divorce.”