News & Updates

On Thursday, April 20, IAALS will present El Pomar Foundation, William J. Hybl, and Kyle H. Hybl with the 2017 Rebuilding Justice Award at our 10th annual gala event. El Pomar Foundation and the Hybls have been instrumental partners for many years and their generous support of our DIAALOGUES series of convenings has helped expand our impact and the impact of our work on a national scale. In addition to their longstanding support of the University of Denver, El Pomar Foundation and the Hybls are consistent and generous supporters of IAALS and have funded and hosted a total of six DIAALOGUES since 2013. These remarkable gatherings are a hallmark of our process and are held at the Penrose House in Colorado Springs, where great minds come together and forge practical solutions to the most pressing challenges in today’s legal system.

Now that a simple majority of votes suffice to confirm a Supreme Court Justice, each party will invariably put forward the most ideologically-extreme candidates that they can. No more moderates, no more coalition-builders, no more impartial judges. Rather, the Court could be populated, over time, by judges who have partisan instincts or agendas—maybe even by judges who have a particular alignment with the president who nominates them.

I am so proud to present to you our 2016 Annual Report, capturing a remarkable year in our existence and representing the work of our truly visionary staff. Last year we celebrated our tenth-year anniversary. As we embark upon the next ten, in this report we embrace the theme: The Stage is Set: Lights, Camera, Innovation. Throughout the report, you will find not only evidence of what we have accomplished, but also the ways in which we are setting the stage for continuing and fundamental change. You will also find quotes from Nobel Prize-winning bards, Tony Award-winning lyricists, and favorite authors—that inspire the creative in each of us. 

In 1791, the Founding Fathers built the right to a trial by jury into the Bill of Rights in the form of the Seventh Amendment. The right to a jury trial was, and still is, seen as a cornerstone of the civil justice system in this country. So why is…

The last ten years has seen an intense and almost singular focus on discovery. E-discovery has been a big reason for this, given its impact on the entire discovery process from identification to production. Nevertheless, there is another important aspect to the pretrial system that also results in great cost and delay—motions.

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week underscored the difference between elected officials and judges. He repeatedly declined to answer questions about his personal views, declined to express his opinion of various precedents, and repeatedly swore to uphold the law, irrespective of the parties before him.

Last month in Miami, Florida, the Center for Out-of-Court Divorce (COCD), together with IAALS at the University of Denver, received Meritorious Recognition from the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services in connection with its annual Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access. The Committee cited that it was impressed with the Center’s family-centered approach to divorce resolution.

My work on the classroom/traditional side has never needed empirical justification. By contrast, my work on the experiential side has always been met by skepticism by those who share my belief in the value of the classroom. Experiential education is not the status quo; it is always subject to demands for empirical evidence of its value.

As reported by the Washington Post, the President is not the only one who has taken on the courts recently: it is also happening in state legislatures around the country. This comes as no surprise to state court watchers; in fact, legislation targeting state courts for unpopular decisions is now commonplace. (Our March 2016, January 2015, and February 2014 blog posts chronicle these efforts.)

In July 2016, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators recognized the important needs of litigants in our state courts and responded by adopting a set of 13 Recommendations focused on ensuring our courts are affordable, efficient, and fair for all.

A new report conducted by Ecorys UK, Experiences of consumers who may be vulnerable in family law, explores the impacts of personal and situational vulnerabilities for people seeking legal assistance with family law matters. Specifically, the study explored access, cost, and quality of legal representation in the modern-day legal market—a market with increasingly more options for people contemplating or experiencing involvement in the legal system.

Last September, we held our 5th Annual Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference, where we welcomed approximately 100 legal educators and legal employers from around the country (and the world!) to discuss the measurement of meaningful learning outcomes and development of hiring criteria, focusing on the results of our Foundations for Practice project. It has become a tradition to kick off the first day of the conference with a series of Ignite presentations (snappy, 6 minute, auto-advancing) from ETL Consortium School faculty who want to share their projects, successes, and ideas. Presenters spoke on topics ranging from faculty resources to career development to simulations. You can find recordings of all of the 2016 Ignites below.

Debtor’s prisons have been illegal in the United States for nearly 200 years, and in 1983 the United State Supreme Court’s ruling in Bearden v. Georgia again made it clear that judges cannot send people to jail simply because they do not have the…

In every state across the nation, judges in family court regularly deal with challenging custody issues as families proceed through the divorce process. And, recent amendments to Alaska’s divorce laws have added another important custody consideration: pets.

New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Daniels had grim news for state legislators at his annual State of the Judiciary speech last month: the state’s judicial system may no longer be able to provide New Mexicans with adequate access to their Constitutional rights due to a crippling financial crisis.

IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Korulis wrote in this week's Denver Post, “But in the legal system as in football, the judges on the bench and the referees on the field are charged with enforcing the rules – sometimes in close calls. While we may not like a ruling, we respect and accept the authority of those entrusted with making it.”

Last year, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts dedicated his 2015 year-end report on the State of the Judiciary to extolling the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He noted the amendments serve as an important stride forward…

Robust evaluation of judges has a dual purpose. It educates judges on their strengths and weaknesses on the bench and equips them to make necessary improvements. It also empowers voters, legislators, and governors with meaningful information they can use when deciding whether to retain or reappoint judges. Across the country, people are struggling with how to gauge whether a judge is doing a good job.

The January 2017 edition of Family Court Review is dedicated to the Honoring Families Initiative’s Family Bar Summit: Shaping the System for the Families We Serve. The Summit, held in November 2015, brought together national thought leaders from diverse professional organizations to identify obstacles to serving children and families in separation and divorce matters and explore opportunities for meaningful change.

Later this week at the ABA Midyear Meeting, a panel discussion will focus on the current challenges facing our civil justice system, recommendations for achieving civil justice for all, and how to make these recommendations a reality in our state…