News & Updates

A former Democratic Party chairman filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the distribution of matching funds under the pilot public financing program to a Republican supreme court candidate. Candidate Allen Loughry, who is the only one of four high court candidates to accept public funding and who is eligible to receive nearly $150,000 in “rescue” funds, filed a response to the suit.

Previously, we have drawn from the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers (ETL) survey to describe the 23 ETL Consortium schools, explore the kinds of curricular innovations currently in place, and look at their support for faculty engagement in the improvement of teaching and learning. This post continues those analyses by looking at what schools are doing with respect to faculty professional activity related to teaching and learning.

Daniel Girard, founder and managing partner of a San Francisco- and New York-based litigation firm and a member of the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Advisory Committee, recently sat down with ETL to discuss his insights into legal education and what he sees as a the most promising new teaching strategies being implemented by law schools and the qualities that new attorneys need to succeed in the practice of law.

The latest edition of Rule One Review is now available. Rule One Review is a quarterly newsletter that shares information about pilot projects and other civil rules projects being monitored by the Rule One Initiative. Sign up for Rule One Review and…

The National Center for State Courts has released Future Trends in State Courts 2012: Special Focus on Courts and Community, including an article by Judge Kevin S. Burke (a member of our Advisory Board) on "Leadership Without Fear."

Three Democratic senators asked Chief Justice Stuart Rabner to investigate allegations that a Republican legislator pressured superior court judges regarding a judicial nomination. According to the senators, the Republican lawmaker told two judges facing re-nomination that the governor would “end their judicial careers” if they did not persuade Democrats to sign off on the governor’s nominee.

Sixteen of the 22 applicants for a supreme court vacancy are women. Indiana is one of three states without a woman on its high court. This will be Governor Daniels’ third appointment to the five-member court.

Two supreme court justices are disputing which of them has seniority and should replace Chief Justice Kitty Kimball when she steps down next year. Justice Bernette Johnson was serving on an intermediate appellate court in 1994 when she was appointed to the supreme court as part of a federal consent decree, and she was elected in 2000.

A state prosecutor announced that no charges would be filed against the three justices standing for retention in November. Governor Scott asked the state law enforcement agency to investigate whether the justices had violated state law in having court employees notarize campaign documents during working hours in order to meet a filing deadline, but according to the prosecutor, this cannot reasonably be described as furthering the justices’ campaigns.

Supporters of a ballot measure that would alter the composition of the nominating commission for appellate court vacancies are unhappy with the issue summary prepared by the secretary of state’s office and plan to file a lawsuit. The proposed amendment’s sponsor describes part of the summary as “flat-out untrue” and calls the secretary of state a “dishonest broker of partisan politics.”

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.

In What America Can Learn From Germany’s Justice System, James Maxeiner urges us to compare America’s civil justice system to its German counterpart for examples of how the civil justice system can be improved. Maxeiner highlights five ways in which…

Though plaintiff attorneys and their firms typically back Democratic judicial candidates, Republican chief justice candidate Roy Moore has received $55,000 from these groups. The supreme court is composed of nine Republicans, and Moore’s is the only race of five on the ballot where there is a Democratic opponent.

Governor Christie nominated a sitting superior court judge, and former federal and state prosecutor, to the supreme court. In recent months, two Christie nominees have been rejected by the senate judiciary committee. Christie’s only other supreme court nominee waited one year before being confirmed by the legislature.

The July 2012 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available.

The June 2012 edition of the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers newsletter is now available. Sign up for this and other IAALS newsletters here.

A group known as Defend Justice from Politics formed to support the three justices up for retention in November.

The ABA Journal discusses the impact of Big Law's preference for graduates from Ivy League and other “elite” law schools. The article notes that such “near obsession with pedigree . . . is damaging to the entire profession” because new statistics…

A Democratic Party committee chose a state senator to run against Justice Terrence O’Donnell in November, following the previous candidate’s withdrawal from the race in April due to lack of campaign funds.

Citing the “Rule of Necessity” and the fact that he did not witness one of the events that gave rise to the case, Justice Patrick Crooks declined to recuse himself from the discipline case involving Justice David Prosser. Prosser and Justice Patience Roggensack have recused themselves, and Prosser requested that his other colleagues do so as well.