News & Updates

In remarks at last week’s annual conference of the state bar association, Justice Barry Albin encouraged members of the legal profession and the public to defend New Jersey’s courts against attacks by the other two branches based on dissatisfaction with court decisions. He went on to suggest that the governor and the legislature have injected politics into the judicial appointment process.

Bob Emery is one of the preeminent national experts on issues related to children and divorce. In this video excerpt, he captures the essence of the problem: almost all of the systems that relate to divorce and separation are geared around the parents, lawyers, or judges. Very few systems are geared to the needs of the children. At the Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families, which will debut on campus at the University of Denver this fall, there is a specific role for the voice of the child.

The Minnesota Supreme Court continues to implement rule changes stemming from the recommendations of its Civil Justice Reform Task Force. On May 7, 2013, the Court adopted an Order authorizing the creation of a Pilot Expedited Civil Litigation Track "to promote efficiency in the processing of certain civil cases," reduce costs, and provide a quick and reduced-cost process for obtaining a jury trial when civil actions cannot be resolved by judicial decision or by settlement.

On March 7, 2013, Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal entered an Administrative Order recognizing the successful ad hoc use of a Fast Track jury trial process in South Carolina and implementing the voluntary process statewide. The Court also adopted Rules and Procedures for the Fast Track jury trial process, which apply in the absence of agreement of counsel otherwise.

It has been an eventful week judicial selection-wise in the Kansas legislature. On Monday, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee announced the details of a compromise selection reform proposal for the state’s appellate judges, which the Kansas Bar Association's board of governors rejected on Tuesday. And on Wednesday, the house judiciary committee chair introduced three new proposals aimed at the appellate court.

As a former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and a current member of the IAALS Board of Advisors, I commend Governor Maggie Hassan for her wisdom in establishing the Judicial Selection Commission to advise her in filling vacancies on our state’s courts. Such a commission ensures that political considerations take a back seat to qualifications, experience, and judicial potential in selecting judges.

In a recent speech to the Ohio State Bar Association, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor identified eight areas in which the state’s process for electing judges might be improved. Among the reforms that O’Connor put on the table were the creation of a nominating commission to advise the governor in filling judicial vacancies between elections. O’Connor encourages public discussion of the reform proposals through a new website.

With Justice Joan Orie Melvin’s resignation from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on May 1, Governor Tom Corbett has ninety days to fill the vacancy. Last month, Senate Democrats sent Governor Corbett—a Republican—the names of five Republicans whose appointment they would support.

Taking some lawmakers by surprise, prominent Republicans in the house and senate announced that they will continue their pursuit of a constitutional change to the process for selecting supreme court and court of appeals judges in the final days of this legislative session.

The Tennessee legislature ended its 2013 session without renewing the state’s judicial nominating commission, which screens applicants for appellate court vacancies and recommends the best qualified candidates to the governor for appointment. The commission expires on June 30, and as of July 1, there will be no process in place for filling vacancies on the supreme court, court of appeals, and court of criminal appeals.

The Hon. Jack Zouhary, federal district court judge and member of the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice, recently penned an article for the Federal Lawyer about his case management process and the prioritization of time and resources throughout the life of a case. In broad strokes, he outlines ten of the most important considerations he makes to keep his courtroom efficient.

Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers is pleased to announce Law Jobs: By the Numbers™, an interactive online tool that gives prospective law students the most transparent and complete law school employment rate information available. Law Jobs empowers prospective students to build, analyze, and compare rates among law schools based on 2011 and 2012 data released by the American Bar Association, all with just a few clicks of a mouse. Users can “choose their own” formulas to tailor employment rates and prioritize the jobs that are valuable to them.

Numbers matter. As we take on some of the biggest challenges facing the civil justice system, our work depends on the number of stakeholders we bring to the table, our ability to facilitate implementation of our recommended models in numerous instances, and, of course, our careful measurement of the outcomes produced. Our 2012 Annual Report commemorates our commitment to Strength in Numbers.

A recent study by IAALS board member Russell Wheeler analyzes the politics behind the high number of judicial vacancies without nominees. Wheeler examines judicial nominations during the Obama administration and hypothesizes that delays from the White House, combined with tensions between the political parties, are responsible for the high number of long-lasting, nominee-less judicial vacancies and to the longer periods between vacancy and nomination.

A study from the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law & Ethics shows "law students who found ways to exercise their top strengths in daily life were less likely to report depression and more likely to report satisfaction." With this understanding, Golden Gate University School of Law, an Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Consortium school, has published an article suggesting that experiential learning, such as through legal clinics, may increase law student happiness.

Under British Columbia's new Family Relations Act, unmarried couples who have lived together for more than two years will now have the same property rights as married couples. The changes went into effect March 18 and require common law spouses to "evenly split family debt and anything purchased during their relationship, including property, in the event of a break-up."

Governor Maggie Hassan signed an executive order establishing a judicial selection commission to advise her in filling vacancies on the state’s courts. Hassan is the third New Hampshire governor to create such an entity. The first was Governor Jeanne Shaheen in 2000, a response at least in part to the impeachment of a supreme court justice.

Last week, in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments to decide whether custody rights of a three-year-old girl should go to her adoptive parents or her biological father, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation. While state courts usually hear such custody disputes, this case has made its way to the Supreme Court because it involves the Indian Child Welfare Act

If there's one thing the people in the room at the ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education can agree on today, it's that something has to give. But just what has to give? That still seems to be up for debate. In the opening session, opinions ranged nearly as wide as the topics, which included the deregulation of the profession, the deregulation of law schools, online education, US News, faculty scholarship, student expectations, consumer expectations, access to justice, and curriculum.

IAALS has played an important role in empowering jurisdictions to experiment with pilot projects and rules changes. Today, we are making information about these programs more accessible to all by launching Action on the Ground, an interactive map that gives users rich information about programs around the country—at a glance.