On September 17, 2013, IAALS and the Byron R. White Center are bringing United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (ret.) to Colorado to deliver the 3rd Annual John Paul Stevens Lecture. The Stevens Lecture brings a well-known jurist to the University of Colorado Law School each year. Registration for the lecture is now open, and can be accessed online.

Federal judges in the Southern District of New York are currently evaluating a pilot project, known as the SDNY Pilot § 1983 Plan, that defines how cases alleging false arrest, excessive force, or malicious prosecution are handled against the NYPD. While the project was instituted to address concerns regarding the increasing number of § 1983 cases being filed, and the increasing length of time to bring those cases to disposition, the Court’s request for feedback has resulted in a critical response by the plaintiffs’ bar.

In Minnesota, a broad-based group known as the Coalition for Impartial Justice, which includes more than 30 business, labor, religious, citizen, and legal groups, is working to implement the 2007 recommendations of the Quie Commission. The commission was unanimous in calling for the adoption of a "merit selection" process for judges and a performance evaluation program, with a majority of the commission favoring retention elections for subsequent terms.

A recent study shows that divorce in early childhood has an impact on the relationship that children have with their parents at a young age and continuing after adolescence. The study analyzed two surveys, which revealed that children of divorce were more likely than others to view their relationships with their parents as “unreliable." Those behind the study suggest that these findings help place the way individuals trust and rely on others in the context of their childhood experiences.

We are happy to introduce our newly published textbook, Negotiating Business Transactions: An Extended Simulations Course. The textbook accompanies our transactional law and practical skills course, International Business Negotiations, which has been adopted by nine law schools. The textbook is the first book designed to facilitate the adoption of an extended transactional simulation course using experiential learning and collaborative teaching pedagogy.

In April, the Arizona legislature passed and the governor signed a bill directing the state's judicial nominating commissions to submit the names of at least five finalists for each judicial vacancy. Last week, four members of the appellate judicial nominating commission filed a petition with the state supreme court to declare the new law unconstitutional. The law is in apparent conflict with a constitutional provision calling for the commission to submit at least three names.

A group of twenty teenagers in the United Kingdom who have been affected by separation or divorce are banding together to create a service that will help teens cope with divorce. The website will provide mentoring and support to children between the ages of twelve and sixteen who are experiencing difficulty due to changing family dynamics. And, the support and mentoring services will be provided to the teens by other young people.

If the current law school model is dilapidated, then it requires real structural and architectural changes. Legal education (finally) must cater to the needs of students and teaching them the knowledge, skills, and values required to serve clients. However, to reinvent legal education in a meaningful way, law schools must involve and elevate their former second-class citizens on the faculty, who already teach, and have long taught, in the way that would represent real change in law schools.

The Colorado Civil Access Pilot Project (CAPP) has been extended by one year, now applying to relevant cases filed through December 31, 2014. Chief Justice Bender’s amended Directive states that the project’s extension will provide “more data and a detailed evaluation” and “give the court time to determine whether the rules as piloted achieved the stated goals." IAALS is conducting the CAPP evaluation at the request of the Colorado Supreme Court, and will issue a public report upon its completion.

A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice highlights the unprecedented number of judicial vacancies in federal district courts across the United States. Approximately ten percent of federal trial court seats are currently vacant. These vacancies, largely the result of drawn-out nomination and confirmation processes, have an increasingly negative impact on the effectiveness of both the criminal and civil justice systems. The report makes three observations about these vacancies.

Last week, controversy arose in Kansas over Governor Brownback's announcement that he would not release the names of applicants for a court of appeals vacancy. The governor initially rejected a petition requesting that applicants' names be released, but he may be reconsidering that decision. Meanwhile, screening committees in Wisconsin and Florida, established to assist them in recommending potential federal judges to the White House, have differing plans on the confidentiality of applicant names.

In 2012, the divorce rate in China exceeded the marriage rate. According to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, 2.87 million people applied for divorce in 2012, a seven percent increase from the year prior. Thirteen million couples married in China in 2012, representing an increase of 1.6 percent from 2011.