Events

IAALS assembled a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives of the plaintiff and defense bars, citizens involved in judicial nominating and evaluating processes, representatives from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, members of the business community, and non-profit leaders, to identify the desired attributes of individual judges and court systems.

This national conference considered ways to improve existing processes for evaluating the performance of appellate judges and for informing voters about evaluation results. Chief Justice Mark Cady of the Iowa Supreme Court was the featured speaker.

IAALS hosted the 2009 Civil Rules Summit. Thirty-two renowned civil justice system experts including U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal gathered to discuss America's civil justice system problems, but with a greater emphasis on identifying solutions.

In August 2008, judges, JPE coordinators, and experts from nearly 20 states attended this forum, hosted by IAALS. This two-day conference featured two tracks of panel sessions, one focusing on building a JPE program from the ground up, and the other emphasizing advanced strategies for jurisdictions with existing JPE programs.

In Spring 2007, IAALS hosted an unprecedented gathering of state Supreme Court Justices, federal and state court judges and top legal reform experts from the U.S. and England. Civil justice system best practices in Oregon, Colorado, and Singapore were discussed and Lord Harry Woolf of Barnes—the architect of England’s legal system overhaul—made a presentation.