News & Updates

There may be as many as 175 judicial elections—both contested and retention—on the 2012 general election ballot. Two of these races are at the supreme court level, with one justice expected to stand for retention and one justice who was appointed to the bench competing against several challengers to keep her seat.

The New York times reviewed the legal profession's failure to put women in leadership and judicial positions in the thirty years since Sandra Day O'Connor heard her first Supreme Court case.

Three federal judge vacancies in Atlanta, which have been declared "emergencies," face continued delays due to partisan gridlock. Larry Thompson, an Advisory Committee member for the O'Connor Judicial Selection Project, was interviewed for the story.

Intervention in judicial campaigns by special interest groups was an issue in a debate between two superior court candidates. One candidate was prepared to renounce all such activity by third-party groups, while the other candidate preferred to make that decision if questionable activity took place. (The superior court is one of the state’s two intermediate appellate courts.)

The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning and North Carolina Central School of Law are co-hosting a conference on March 3, 2012, which will focus on the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in and out of the classroom. They announced…

As Gavel Grab reports, the United States Senate is not only at odds over the federal judicial nominees--it's also at odds over whether the delay in appointments is unreasonable.

Judge Kevin Burke holds Newt Gingrich's claim that "President Thomas Jefferson abolished over half the federal judgeships" to historical scrutiny.

The American Bar Association's Standards Review Committee will hold a public forum in Chicago on November 11 to allow for comments on proposed changes to the standards. Among the requirements that have drawn concerns are "student learning outcomes," or "requirements that law schools lay out what they want students to learn and design ways to assess whether they are meeting those goals."

The online legal community was abuzz Monday with the news that corporate clients don’t want to foot the bill for new lawyer training thanks to a Wall Street Journal article that asks: “First-Year Associates: Are They Worth It?” We’ve been talking to in-house counsel for months about gaps in legal education and the skills they would like law schools to develop in their students.

The chair of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has directed the Standards Review Committee draft a new standard that provides for "specific and severe penalties for the intentional misreporting of placement data, including…

Ray Suarez interviewed Rebecca Love Kourlis about Rebuilding Justice and the problems and potential solutions it identifies for civil courts in the United States.

New York Law School, one of the first law schools to be sued over its job placement data, has filed a motion to dismiss. It claims it is in full compliance with the American Bar Association's procedures for reporting employment data. Click here to…

A survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal for the Association of Corporate Counsel suggests that in-house legal departments are refusing to pay for new lawyers. More than 20% responded that they have refused to pay for work by first- or second…

A supreme (trial) court administrative judge issued a written reprimand to candidates for four open seats in his district, citing a number of complaints about their campaign activities. The candidates had been provided with a copy of a judicial campaign ethics handbook and required to attend an educational program on the ethical boundaries of campaign conduct.

Four years ago, Professor Andrew Schepard and his colleagues at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University developed a family law class that would strike a balance between doctrine and skills development. This week, we added it to our growing collection of innovative law school courses. In a recent interview, Professor Schepard discussed the course, which he has taught the last three years.

Annita M. Menogan is currently responsible for oversight of all legal matters for Red Robin, including compliance and corporate governance, and is a member of the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Advisory Committee. She recently sat down with us to talk about the future for law students and new law graduates in the profession. In her Voices from the Field interview, Menogan raises several issues about the current state of legal education, and some possible solutions.

Chief Justice Paul De Muniz announced that he will retire from the supreme court in January 2013. De Muniz’s announcement came well in advance so that prospective candidates for his seat could prepare for the 2012 election.

In the wake of the defeat of three justices in the November 2010 retention elections, members of the Iowa Supreme Court have been more active in outreach efforts to educate the public about the role of the courts. One justice will stand for retention in 2012, and a challenge is anticipated.

A local chapter of the League of Women Voters hosted a forum on diversity in state courts as part of a national campaign to promote impartial courts and judicial diversity. The League made several recommendations for enhancing diversity among the state’s judges, most of whom are elected by the legislature after being vetted by a commission composed of legislators and members of the public.

In a recent presentation, Professor Daniel Martin Katz of Michigan State University College of Law promoted a new law school model that, among other things, blends practice skills with doctrine and favors students with undergraduate majors in science and engineering.