News & Updates

Diversity may be a factor in filling the vacancy. Indiana is one of only three states with no women justices, and only one justice of color currently serves on the court.

This month IAALS is co-hosting the third in a series of webinars with the National Center for State Courts focused on providing practical information and guidance on implementing civil justice reform, titled, "Civil Justice Reform: Making Motions Practice More Effective and Efficient." The webinars are part of our three-year Civil Justice Initiative implementation project focused on providing support for on-the-ground reform through education, expert assistance, regional action planning summits, demonstration projects, and a variety of tools.

In 2012, North Carolina was the only state with contested judicial elections in which voters were provided with performance evaluations of the judicial candidates—both sitting judges and challengers—on their ballot. It is fairly common for bar associations to offer ratings of sitting judges standing for retention or reelection, but this was the first instance of which IAALS is aware where a bar association also evaluated judicial challengers. Since 2012, the NCBA has also offered a voluntary, confidential evaluation program for new judges.

I predict that legal education in general and law schools in particular will continue to be under the microscope in 2012. Some of the criticism is appropriate, and Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers is one of the efforts designed to address that legitimate criticism. Some of it, however, is both projection and scapegoating. 

Between 2016 and 2018, 11 states were awarded grants under the Justice for All Initiative. Now they've completed their strategic planning processes and are ready to begin the implementation phase, with common themes among plans being use of technology, strong governanance, and internal and external communications. 

As the public comment period continues on the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Senate Judiciary Committee joined in the discussion this week by holding a hearing on the proposals. The hearing provided another opportunity for comment on the proposed rules and their potential impact. There was a consistent message from the hearing that empirical research plays an important role in our analysis of these issues.

The three candidates competing to be the Republican candidate for chief justice of the supreme court raised nearly $150,000 in January for the March primary campaign.

Artificial intelligence is no longer just the stuff of science fiction, as more and more entities globally—courts included—are exploring how AI can be utilized to improve processes and help customers solve problems more efficiently. The introduction of AI into courtrooms is exciting, yet it also raises numerous concerns and questions from the legal community.

IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis paid a pre-holiday, virtual visit to LXBN TV to talk about the effects of partisan elections of judges across the country. Kourlis weighed in on the same concerns that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently voiced regarding the influence that partisan elections can have on judges’ decisions.

Nevada Senator William J. Raggio died on February 23. Senator Raggio was a 2010 IAALS Transparent Courthouse® Award recipient, along with his fellow Nevadan former Assembly Speaker Barbara E. Buckley. IAALS chose Senator Raggio because of his extraordinary efforts to promote a judicial selection system in Nevada that would assure impartiality and accountability.

New Mexico is one of the latest states to look to regulatory innovation to increase access to legal services. On January 24, the state supreme court approved a number of recommendations, including enlisting nonlawyer court navigators to assist self-represented litigants in navigating the system. 

As we strive to improve the American legal system, we do so in collaboration with some of the best minds in the country. It is through the expertise and guidance of these partners that we are able to forge innovative and practical solutions to the problems in our system. In short, our advisors make our work possible. As we begin 2014, we say farewell and a profound 'thank you' to two board members, and welcome two more who have taken up the mantle.

In the wake of the recent economic downturn and its aftermath, law schools and legal education are again the focus of intense scrutiny. Unfortunately, there is often more rhetoric than constructive discussion.

On June 25, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law co-hosted a virtual discussion with William Henderson, law professor and an ABA Journal Legal Rebel, who laid out how and why the current legal regulatory system is no longer working and why state supreme courts are best positioned to pioneer new regulatory models.

On April 24, 2014, IAALS was pleased to host its 7th Annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner at the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center in downtown Denver. The evening was capped by surprise video introductions for our esteemed honorees, filmed by their wives, who each told the story of their husband’s enduring passion and dedication from a uniquely personal perspective.

Justice Frank Sullivan announced his intention to step down by the end of August, allowing Governor Daniels to make his third appointment to the high court. It also presents another opportunity to appoint a woman to the all-male court.

In a groundbreaking report, IAALS, in partnership with Professor Deborah Merritt at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, has defined the minimum competence that new lawyers need to be qualified to practice law—and provides recommendations for how legal licensing processes like the bar exam must change to be more fair to bar applicants and to better protect the public.

In recent years, I have been distressed to see persistent efforts in some states to politicize the bench and the role of our judges. Working closely with IAALS and its Quality Judges Initiative, we have collaborated to promote processes for selecting and retaining state judges that inspire public trust in our courts and the integrity of their decisions. Today, I am pleased to share with you the O’Connor Judicial Selection Plan—our recommendations for protecting and strengthening the courts.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has incorporated a Model Order Regarding E-Discovery In Patent Cases into its Local Rules as Appendix P. 

IAALS announced that it is awarding Anna E. Carpenter, Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Programs at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, the inaugural Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award.