A new study from the American Constitution Society finds a correlation between the airing of TV ads in state supreme court races and justices' decisions in criminal cases. According to the study, the more ads that air in a state, the more likely justices on the state's high court are to vote against criminal defendants. The study also documents the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

The call for cooperation in legal disputes is on its way to being enshrined within the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in a more meaningful way. Several years ago, the Sedona Conference®’s Cooperation Proclamation called for greater cooperation between litigants in dealing with discovery matters. The idea calls for attorneys not to compromise their duty to be zealous advocates, but to strive for balance with their other duty as an officer of the court.

Family court judges make significant decisions affecting our nation's families, yet these judges are often undervalued—even by their peers on the bench. And, there is insufficient acknowledgement of the broad expertise required to do the job well. A new IAALS publication aims to change this by drawing attention to the special knowledge, qualities, and skills that these judges need to be successful—and hopefully reprioritizing and revaluing their role in the legal system.

Courts in many countries have been striving to provide various services to help facilitate the increasing number of self-represented litigants who need their services—especially in family law cases. In Ontario, Canada, the National Self-Represented Litigants Project recently published An Open Letter to the Canadian Judiciary, meant to encourage a dialogue between self-represented litigants (SRLs) and judges, who may struggle at times to effectively assist SRLs in their courtrooms.

IAALS would like to congratulate Malia Reddick, Consultant to our Quality Judges Initiative, on being named recipient of the National Association of Women Judges’ Award of Appreciation. Malia has been very involved with the NAWJ’s Informed Voters—Fair Judges Project over the years, and is being recognized for her many contributions and overall efforts to advance this important nonpartisan civics education.

“Big dreams, hard work, and serendipity” are the words Judge Christine M. Arguello would use to describe how she achieved her professional successes as a lawyer and judge. But, she also acknowledges the help of various mentors and the support of academic institutions throughout her career. In order to help the next generation, Judge Arguello founded Law School - Si Se Puede, a pipeline program that advances inclusiveness in the legal profession.

On October 10, 2014, I will be in Albuquerque to attend and present at a seminar that will discuss the question: “Can Summary Jury Trials Revive a Declining Civil Jury System?” As part of our Rule One Initiative, we have gathered a lot of valuable information about short, summary, and expedited programs around the country. I encourage those who are interested in learning more about these programs to start with these materials.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to settle a conflict in lower federal and state courts regarding whether judicial candidates may personally solicit campaign contributions. The nation's highest court has not addressed the First Amendment rights of judicial candidates since 2002. Every state supreme court to address the constitutionality of these restrictions has upheld them, but federal courts of appeals have split on the issue.

Public opinion polls consistently show that voters know very little about judges and judicial candidates on the ballot and wish they had more information. Around the country, judicial branch entities, state bar associations, and other groups are working to change that. In the November judicial elections, voters in many states will have the benefit of objective assessments of the performance of incumbent judges, and in some instances, the qualifications of their challengers.

IAALS is pleased to announce the release of our final evaluation results for the Colorado Civil Access Pilot Project (CAPP), the state's experiment with new court procedures. As a whole, CAPP has succeeded in achieving many of its intended effects and the evaluation provides a rich source of information for rulemakers and decision-makers around the country.

Law Professor Cara Cunningham Warren has written a paper about "Achieving the American Bar Association's Pedagogy Mandate." In order for professors to meet with ABA expectations, they will have to come up with new approaches to assessing student learning—something that was recently discussed the 2014 Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference.

Earlier this month, Law Week Colorado published an article highlighting IAALS' report Choosing Judges: Judicial Nominating Commissions and the Selection of Supreme Court Justices. An outgrowth of the O’Connor Judicial Selection Plan, the report examines why judicial nominating commissions are established in the first place, how their structure and operation differ across the nation, and what some of the best practices might be in building public trust in the process.