News & Updates

Recently, Natalie Knowlton and I provided an update to the Colorado legal community on the Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families at the University of Denver—a model with national implications. The Resource Center was developed by the Honoring Families Initiative as an out-of-court alternative for families. I encourage readers to become familiar with our program and the impact we have had to-date.

Professor Roberto Corrada of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law gives students a comprehensive understanding of administrative law through a unique, simulated experience inspired by the novel Jurassic Park. The course, Administrative Law: Dinosaur Park Simulation, is taught using the paradigm of “what if this actually happened.”

This year, with the economy coming back from the "great recession," the divorce rate has spiked from its 40-year low in 2009. Now that the economy is more stable, and people are feeling financially secure, those who were postponing divorce are starting to seriously consider it again.

Republican state legislators have proposed a bill that would increase the size of, and allow the governor to appoint a majority of members to, the Alaska Judicial Council. The AJC serves as both the judicial nominating commission and the judicial performance evaluation commission. Under the new bill, the AJC would be expanded to 16 members, and the change would require amending the constitution.

The Conference of Chief Justices has established a new committee that will evaluate civil justice improvement efforts around the country and develop guidelines and best practices for civil litigation, as well as case-flow management. The National Center for State Courts has also undertaken a research project to inform the committee's work. IAALS looks forward to working alongside NCSC to support the efforts of the committee.

HB 3380 would establish a judicial performance evaluation program for Oklahoma’s appellate and trial judges, and is remarkably similar to processes that already operate successfully in seven states where judges appear on the ballot, as they do in Oklahoma. The contemplated JPE program in Oklahoma is objective, broad-based, and apolitical, and an improvement on existing processes.

For those who have been awaiting empirical analysis from the pilot project and rules reform experimentation that has been going on around the country, there are two new significant reports from the earliest of the projects—from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Both reports provide helpful insights into state pilot project efforts to address the increasing burden and cost of civil pretrial discovery.

In The Docket, Barbara Mueller discusses the 2nd Annual Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Conference as a window into the ongoing discussions of legal education reform that are taking place nationwide. At one session, a panel of law school deans from across the country discussed a number of such approaches that their law schools are undertaking.

IAALS would like to extend our sincere congratulations to Andrew Schepard on his designation as the Max Schmertz Distinguished Professor of Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Andy has been a longtime friend of IAALS, working closely with us on a range of issues.

In his Voices from the Field interview, Bill Walters, Partner at Heizer Paul and former president of the Colorado Bar Association, suggests that law schools need to expose students to the various career options they have following law school, which extend far beyond the traditional big firm practice of law.

The last of three hearings on the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is being held today in Dallas, Texas, and our Executive Director, Rebecca Love Kourlis, is among those testifying. IAALS has submitted a Joint Comment with the ACTL Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice, as well as a Report coming out of our Forum for Understanding and Comment on the Federal Rule Amendments.

It comes as no surprise to those who work in or with the courts that many litigants these days proceed through the civil and family court system without an attorney. The figures collected and released in Indiana’s recent State of the Judiciary show that over half of all civil and family law litigants in 2013 were self-represented. And such high rates are not unique to Indiana.

There are several anticipated efforts in 2014 to alter processes for selecting state court judges, particularly in states with commission-based gubernatorial appointment of appellate judges. In Kansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, as in Arizona and Florida in recent years, legislative proposals are aimed at directly or indirectly expanding the governor's appointing authority.

This spring, IAALS will hold its annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner, which recognizes individuals who exemplify the spirit of innovation and leadership that we champion across all of our work. We are thrilled to be honoring two longtime supporters of IAALS: Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael L. Bender (Ret.) and University of Denver Chancellor Robert D. Coombe.

While divorce is a legal process, anyone who has gone through it knows that it is also an emotional process. The reality is that the 'emotional divorce' and the 'legal divorce' most often have to be managed at the same time, but the legal process can make a significant difference in one's experience, both during the process and for years after.

The New York State Bar Association is devoting a segment of its annual meeting to two themes that have emerged with increasing urgency in bar associations around the country: "Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers" and "Supporting Today's Lawyers." I'm here in New York to participate in person, but I just learned that you can tune in at 2:00 pm ET to view the full Presidential Summit, which serves as the centerpiece of the NYSBA's week-long annual meeting.

A pair of Illinois attorneys are offering a unique model for couples looking to end their marriage. Sandra Young and Brian Garvey are pioneering "The Weekend Divorce," which builds on the collaborative law model and offers divorcing couples settlement on all issues over the course of a weekend. This new model comes in the wake of widespread experimentation with out-of-court alternatives for separating and divorcing families.

Forthcoming statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth show an increase in cohabitation among new parents, and demographers say this trend is likely to continue. The preliminary figures show that—for the first time—the percentage of unmarried couples who move in together after pregnancy surpasses the percentage that chose to marry.

Dean Rachel Van Cleave of Golden Gate University School of Law recently published an article discussing the optimism of current law students and the responsibility of law schools to "have the courage to make our students' success our first priority." She advocates for law schools to commit to their students by providing them an education that matches their enthusiasm.

For the first time in more than 40 years, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has amended its Code of Judicial Conduct. Among the new rules is a provision that requires judges to recuse themselves from hearing cases where the judge knows or learns that a party, a party's lawyer, or the law firm of a party's lawyer has made a direct or indirect contribution(s) to the judge's campaign.