Two recent appointments to Maryland's court of appeals mark "firsts" in diversity for the state's highest court. Governor Martin O'Malley's elevation of Judge Mary Ellen Barbera to be chief judge would make her the first woman to lead the high court. Shirley M. Watts, whom O'Malley appointed to fill Barbera's vacancy as associate judge, would be the first African-American woman to serve on the court of appeals.
Our courts face a crisis of access. In a majority of family cases—divorce, separation, and custody issues—at least one party is self-represented. With upwards of 80 to 90 percent of cases involving a self-represented party, it is essential that self-represented litigants can navigate the process and know what to expect at key stages. Partnering with experts around the country, IAALS developed Court Compass as a way to engage court users in brainstorming ways to simplify the family court process.
Last week, during a town hall at Binghamton University, President Obama jumped into the legal education fray when he suggested that law schools could increase the value of a law degree without sacrificing its quality by moving from a three-year program to a two-year program. The two-year/three-year debate has been alive and well in legal education reform circles for some time, but the President’s comments catapulted the conversation into the national spotlight. What do you think?
The Winter 2011 edition of Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly is now available. Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly is a quarterly newsletter reporting highlights from all IAALS initiatives. Sign up for Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly and other IAALS…
This week, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and Senior Director Brittany Kauffman have been attending the World Justice Forum at The Hague. The Forum has generated discussion around some of the most pressing legal topics in the world today.
As many have recognized, electronic discovery has arrived in the state courts. While there are abundant resources available on the topic of e-discovery, for many judges the question is, “Where to begin?” To answer that question, IAALS now offers this new toolkit for state court judges, which pulls together some of the best resources available. Whether you are an expert or a novice with e-discovery issues, this collection of resources will be useful in your cases.
A circuit court judge announced her intention to challenge a court of appeals judge in the Republican primary for the open supreme court seat created by Justice Tom Woodall’s retirement. In announcing her candidacy, she pledged not to accept contributions from political action committees.
Limited legal license programs, such as the one in Washington state that NCSC is beginning to evaluate this month, can effectively contribute to the expansion of the way legal services are delivered. However, their success may be hampered if they are weighed down by excessive limitations and restrictions.
Professor John Lande of the University of Missouri School of Law gives students a realistic and comprehensive perspective on legal negotiation through a semester-long simulated experience in his Negotiation course. Lande describes his course as unique and particularly relevant to the legal profession because he uses multi-layered six-step negotiation hypotheticals to walk students through the entire negotiation process.
New York's Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has created a task force to identify ways to "better control dockets, manage case flow and make more effective use of non-judicial personnel and alternative dispute resolution within the courts."
On February 26, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law had the privilege of hosting Patricia Refo, President-elect of the American Bar Association, for a talk and Q&A regarding the re-regulation of legal services. Refo gave an engaging talk that explored how re-regulation could address the access to justice gap, as well as the questions the legal profession must address in the wake of innovation.
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.
Three justices are on the ballot in November, and their retention is expected to be hotly contested. One group that has mounted an anti-retention campaign is Restore Justice 2012, whose website lays out the justices’ voting records on issues of interest to the group. The group also unsuccessfully challenged two justices in 2010.
On August 9, 2020, friends, family, and fans of Alli Gerkman will gather virtually for Alli’s Rally: a fun, free, casual self-supported bike ride to celebrate Alli’s love for riding, her infectious laughter, and her extraordinary legacy.
Access to justice is by no means a new conversation in the United States, but it has been a frequent topic of conversation over the last few months. The issue took to the international stage last Thursday and Friday when the United Nations Human Rights Committee asked the U.S. to account for its growing civil justice gap, with two worrisome trends dominating the discussion.
Governor Daniels selected attorney Mark Massa to replace the retiring Randall Shepard on the supreme court. The state judicial nominating commission will choose one of the five sitting justices to replace Shepard as chief justice. Indiana is one of three states with no women justices on the highest court.
The public knows the reality of how the justice system functions today. It is we who are now catching on. The call has never been louder for court leaders and system stakeholders to accept and admit some hard truths. It is time that we look inward and take responsibility for those aspects of the system that are failing.
The Journal of Legal Education of Southwestern Law School recently published an article surveying the landscape of legal education. Authors Stephen Daniels, Martin Katz, and William Sullivan used an Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers survey to discuss changes that have been made by the legal academy and whether these changes were forceful enough to overcome the inertia of traditional legal education.
In an interview with Paul Lippe on Legal OnRamp, Dean Martin Katz, Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers executive committee member, discusses experiential learning, the Carnegie Report, and Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers.
