As has become standard operating procedure in the last several sessions, the Kansas legislature is once again considering proposals to alter the process for selecting the state's appellate judges. Chief Justice Lawton Nuss has spoken out against efforts to end Kansas' merit selection process for appellate judges and has found an ally in O'Connor Advisory Committee member and former Chief Justice of Texas Wallace Jefferson.

Pennsylvania is one of two states that is electing supreme court justices in 2015. To provide the public with information about judges on the ballot, the Pennsylvania Bar Association offers ratings of appellate judicial candidates provided by the Bar's Judicial Evaluation Commission (JEC). But, a sitting commonwealth court judge and supreme court candidate has called that evaluation process into question.

Last year, the ABA’s Student Lawyer featured Alli Gerkman and her advice for current law students. Gerkman discussed the value of building a personal network and the importance of making and fostering professional connections right from the get-go. "Your success and your ability to make an impact are limited only by the breadth and quality of your personal connections," she said.

Social and mainstream media is abuzz with coverage of a recent segment on HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, in which Oliver skewers judicial elections. With clips of campaign ads that range from the absurd to the appalling, and extreme examples of the tactics some judicial candidates have used to garner campaign contributions, Oliver shines a hilarious but no less accurate light on the "horrifying spectacle" of judicial elections.

A recent survey commissioned by the NCSC explored public opinions of the court system. Compared to a similar survey conducted in April 2012, assessments of state court systems on such measures as integrity, customer service, and stewardship of taxpayer dollars have improved. However, the public still has concerns about the influence of partisanship and political dealmaking, as well as the potential for waste and inefficiency, in the justice system.

A federal judge recently issued an order sharing her impatience with the ongoing discovery disputes of the parties. In addition to highlighting the cost and delay associated with such disputes, the court’s order also highlighted the possibilities for a different process to resolve such disputes. And, there is a clear movement across the country, at the state and federal level, toward these types of alternate processes for handling discovery motions.

Law Week Colorado recently published an article highlighting Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers' report, Ahead of the Curve: Turning Law Students into Lawyers, which examines the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program at the University of New Hampshire School of Law. The collaboration exemplified by the program will pave the way for more successful innovations in legal education, according to Alli Gerkman.

The proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and their potential impact continue to be on the forefront of discussions around the country. During a recent webinar, the Civil Rules Advisory Committee Chairman, Judge David Campbell, discussed the history of the amendments and the unprecedented number of public comments received during the rulemaking process. The discussion of the proposed amendments continued at Legal Tech New York, where a panel of judges spoke on their impact.

Since opening in September 2013, the University of Denver’s Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families has served as an invaluable resource not only for participating families, but also for the graduate students who have an opportunity to work within their field and gain experience. In January’s Family Court Review, students and supervisors share their perspectives on the experience.

IAALS congratulates Colorado's Judicially Speaking on receiving the Sandra Day O'Connor Award for Advancement of Civics Education from the National Center for State Courts. Judicially Speaking is a civics education program founded by Colorado trial judges, including friend of IAALS Judge David Prince. The program is designed to promote middle and high school students' understanding of the role of the judiciary in the American legal system.

Are law school graduates ready to enter the profession, engage in the practice, and serve clients? Many law schools have developed more robust experiential training in recent years. One such program is educating law students who are outperforming their colleagues in the field who have been licensed to practice law for up to two years, according to a study conducted by Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers.

In its effort to highlight the paradigm shift in how law is being practiced, the ABA Journal recently reported on the IAALS model for a less adversarial, out-of-court divorce process and the first implementation of this model at the University of Denver. While a comprehensive, three-year evaluation of the Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families is underway by IAALS, anecdotes from families who have proceeded through the process show that it is succeeding.