News & Updates

Judges must be held accountable for conduct that violates their codes of conduct and governing laws. A recent Reuters report on judicial misconduct, while not quite comprehensive, is an important reminder that we need to know more about this topic that is arguably central to public trust and confidence and—more importantly—justice and the rule of law.

In advance of this week's Standing Committee meeting on May 29 and 30, the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules has drafted a new Committee Note to accompany its newly revised proposed Rule 37(e). This is another step forward in the long process of adopting revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Note provides additional insight into the new rule's "reasonable steps to preserve" language.

The three supreme court justices standing for retention in November share major campaign contributors with Fair Districts Now, an organization that supported redistricting amendments considered by the court in February.

On December 9, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law co-hosted a virtual discussion with Dan Rodriguez, former dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, on why our balkanized system of professional regulation makes it much more difficult to meet the demand for legal services. 

The ABA recently honored Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law and Vanderbilt University Law School, both Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Consortium schools, with their 2014 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards. The award recognizes excellence and innovation in professionalism programs by law schools, bar associations, professionalism commissions, and other law-related organizations.

Numbers may prevent a disciplinary complaint against Justice David Prosser from going any further. Prosser formally requested that two justices recuse themselves from consideration of the complaint against him, and he asked personally that two other justices recuse themselves, on the grounds that these justices were witnesses to the incident that gave rise to the complaint.

In October 2020, IAALS published its groundbreaking report on the 12 building blocks of minimum competence to be a lawyer, our 5 insights for assessment, and our 10 recommendations for better legal licensing—with the goal of improving the bar exam and the overall licensing process. Here, we cover the fourth, fifth, and sixth building blocks of minimum competence.

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.

In the Spring 2012 edition of its quarterly publication, ABOTA features Chapter 3 of Rebuilding Justice: "The Importance of Trials."

In December, IAALS and its partners continued the Redesigning Legal Speaker Series with a panel exploring the opportunities being created by regulatory innovation for legal education.

ETL is about to release its first major report—a study of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program. The report is not even public yet, but it was already highlighted in the Wall Street Journal and criticized at Above the Law. Ultimately, if law schools are going to develop programs that better prepare students and if prospective students are going to rely on those programs, then legal employers must value them. And, we're working on ways to help ensure that happens.

From thirty-one applicants for an upcoming supreme court vacancy, the judicial nominating commission submitted the names of seven candidates for possible appointment to Governor Deal.

IAALS has released Unbundled Legal Services in the New Normal, a new report highlighting key takeaways from the national 2021 conference, as well as a new resource center to help consumers, lawyers, and courts get how-to information on promoting and utilizing unbundled legal services.

Mark your calendars! The 4th Annual Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference will take place October 1-3, 2015, in Denver, Colorado, and will center on our Foundations for Practice project. We will debut the results of our national study to participants and look to them to help us shape the lessons, recommendations, and next steps that will turn the results into action.

As a result of a split vote on the issue by the supreme court, Justice Michael Gableman will not be required to recuse himself from cases involving a law firm that provided him with free legal representation in an ethics case in 2010.

Legal Aid of North Carolina is set to launch Innovation Lab, which aims to improve access to justice through technology integration, data collection, and collaboration. The Lab reflects a broader movement towards transformative approaches in the legal sector that emphasize evidence-based innovation and improved service delivery.

Nationwide, IAALS is succeeding in improving the American legal system with innovative approaches to daunting challenges. But, we don’t do it alone. We work each day in collaboration with the very best minds in the country to research issues, generate ideas, and implement solutions that will have the most impact for the most people.

The outcome of a supreme court race has led some to question the role of ethnicity in judicial elections. Incumbent justice Steve Gonzalez’s opponent did not raise money or campaign but still garnered 42 percent of the vote. Observers note that voters who lack information about judicial candidates often cast their votes based on race, sex, and other factors unrelated to qualifications.

To say that Sandra Day O’Connor fundamentally changed the legal landscape for good is really only a beginning, not a summation, of the contributions she made. To my mind, her deepest value came in the simple doing of things and doing them in an authentic and straightforward way that forged a new path forward.

With the leadership of Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a coalition of groups in Ohio has launched a new website—Judicial Votes Count—to better educate voters in judicial elections. The site offers information about the structure of the Ohio court system and the role of judges in that system, as well as details about how to vote in Ohio.