News & Updates

By a 5-4 vote, the state judicial nominating commission voted to bar its members from contributing to or actively participating in any judicial race in the state, including the retention elections of three supreme court justices. Those who voted in favor of the policy want to avoid the appearance of impropriety, while those who voted against it believe that public disclosure of support for a candidate would be sufficient.

IAALS has released new initial discovery protocols to help both businesses and insurers alike reach a quick resolution to the rapid increase in court cases involving business interruption insurance property damage claims due to COVID-19.

In a recent opinion issuing discovery sanctions, a federal district court judge in the Northern District of Iowa denounced modern discovery practice in the United States. Judge Mark W. Bennett began the opinion with a reference to Hamlet, and then went on to discuss the current state of discovery, how it is too often “mired in obstructionism,” and how such inappropriate conduct is “born of a warped view of zealous advocacy.”

The University of California Hastings College announced that it will reduce enrollment by 20% over the next three years. "The critics of legal education are right," Dean Frank Wu said in a telephone interview on April 30. "There are too many law…

At Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, we’ve been fortunate to have a front-row seat to the outcomes and transformation that IAALS has achieved through Foundations for Practice. We collaborated with IAALS to survey our partners on the characteristics that they viewed as most essential for new associates to be successful at WTO, and the outcomes for retention and diversity have been exciting and encouraging.

New research out of the United Kingdom suggests that instead of facing the family court system without legal counsel, families are choosing to forgo the courts altogether. This problem is not novel to the UK, and self-represented litigants are on the rise in the United States as well. Our Cases Without Counsel project is conducting first-of-its-kind national research in the hopes of better understanding how the legal system can meet the needs of these families.

A federal judge struck down an aspect of the public financing program for appellate judges that provides rescue funds to judicial candidates who are outspent by privately funded candidates. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a similar provision in Arizona’s public financing program in 2011, on the grounds that it infringed upon freedom of speech.

Over the past several years, IAALS has designed resources to improve legal education and legal hiring; challenged the legal community to examine its licensure practices; and promoted a justice system that meets the demands of everyday people by clearing regulatory obstacles to innovation, development, and collaboration. And this work is just getting started.

In its effort to highlight the paradigm shift in how law is being practiced, the ABA Journal recently reported on the IAALS model for a less adversarial, out-of-court divorce process and the first implementation of this model at the University of Denver. While a comprehensive, three-year evaluation of the Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families is underway by IAALS, anecdotes from families who have proceeded through the process show that it is succeeding.

The judicial council forwarded to Governor Parnell the names of two potential appointees for the supreme court vacancy created by Justice Morgan Christen’s move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The governor must appoint one of the two within 45 days. In his 16 judicial appointments to date, the governor has favored individuals who have conservative or traditional Christian backgrounds.

In November, several law schools made the decision to withdraw from the U.S. News & World Report rankings, reigniting conversation about the publication’s role in perpetuating inequality in legal education.

In the fall of 2013, IAALS and the National Judicial College co-hosted an educational summit exclusively tailored for state court judges on all facets of the discovery of ESI—from preservation to production to eventual use at trial. In attendance…

The July 2012 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available.

We are thrilled to welcome two new members to the IAALS team—Amy Livingston as director of development and Danielle Kalil as director of civil justice and the judiciary.

In response to the end-of-term decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court on marriage equality and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), some presidential candidates are calling for changes to the life tenure that justices enjoy under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

The supreme court reversed one of the revisions it made to the code of judicial conduct in January, removing a prohibition against judges making campaign contributions to political candidates. The state bar supported the move as preserving judges’ First Amendment rights, but critics argue that judges should stay out of politics.

The Above the Line Network aims to tackle challenges in middle-class legal access by fostering collaboration and advocating for systemic changes. Spanning efforts across North America and beyond, ATLN is dedicated to delivering quality, affordable legal services while amplifying the voices of the often-overlooked middle class.

Congratulations to IAALS Board of Advisors member Sheila Slocum Hollis on her appointment as the new Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress.

The legislature’s creation of two additional judgeships and several retirements are creating a record number of superior court vacancies to be filled. If Governor Markell is reelected in November, he will have a rare opportunity to shape the superior court.

IAALS has announced the executive committee and coordinating members of the Colorado Licensed Legal Paraprofessional (LLP) Committee as the recipients of the 2025 Rebuilding Justice Award. We're proud to recognize the achievements of the individuals who enabled LLPs to increase access to legal services for one of the largest segments of the justice gap.