News & Updates

Technology has impacted the legal profession greatly, yet many attorneys are not keeping up—at least, according to some judges. In a recent survey, roughly 32 percent of judge respondents said that lawyers lack the knowledge necessary, on both the…

In addition to the court of appeals vacancy for which the commission on judicial nomination is currently accepting applications, there are several upcoming vacancies on the seven-member court. Two justices will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70, and one justice’s term will end, in 2014. Two more justices reach mandatory retirement in 2015 and 2016.

In October, IAALS convened leaders from various regulatory innovation initiatives to discuss sandbox and alternative business structure efforts and research, improve stakeholder engagement, and emphasize the importance of community relations.

Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Director Alli Gerkman was invited to speak on “The Changing Legal Landscape” at the opening plenary session for the National Conference of Bar Presidents in July. In a prepared presentation (below), she said that…

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ordered a hearing for October 30, 2012 to consider comments submitted in response to select portions of the Minnesota Supreme Court Civil Justice Reform Task Force’s Final Report dated December 23, 2011 and its Supplemental Report dated May 22, 2012.

Justice Alito's recusal controversy highlights the urgent need for clear judicial recusal procedures. IAALS' recommendations strive to boost transparency, efficiency, and trust in our judiciary.

Honoring Families recently convened a diverse cross-section of the national family law bar, with the goal of identifying and discussing improvements to the system that would allow all practitioners to better serve clients and children. The Family Bar Summit: Shaping the System for the Families We Serve challenged participants to shed preconceived notions about the system and engage in forward-thinking discussion on various aspects of the family justice system.

Chief Judge David Sentelle of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia warns that the federal judiciary will be at risk if Congress cannot reach a budget deal to prevent the implementation of $600 billion in automatic spending cuts. While civil trials before judges without juries would likely be unaffected, Chief Judge Sentelle states federal civil jury trials would possibly be suspended due to lack of funding to pay jurors and that budget cuts would affect the probation system and payment for public defenders.

The legal controversies surrounding many of the current administration's policy initiatives have included calls to impeach judges who have ruled against the government, and defenders of the judiciary frequently have characterized these events as attacks on the rule of law.

Are the days of retainers and hourly rate billing for legal services over? Probably not, but Avvo, Inc., may be leading the industry in this direction with a new, fixed-fee billing model. Through Avvo Legal Services (ALS), users are connected with a…

A group known as the Oklahoma Civil Justice Council released ratings of supreme court justices based on how they have ruled in civil liability cases. Four justices are standing for retention in November.

It is hard to believe it has been seven months since our 4th Annual Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference last fall, where we presented initial results from our Foundations for Practice survey. Since that gathering, we have heard from countless legal educators who are embarking on the process to define and measure learning outcomes—and who are using Foundations for Practice to inform that process.

In their September issue, Law Week Colorado discusses the problems with the current civil justice system and the on-going efforts by states to facilitate “just, speedy and inexpensive” litigation. Referencing dialogue from IAALS’ Third Civil Justice Reform Summit, the article describes the states' implementation of civil procedure pilot projects, intended to improve state systems by limiting discovery proportionally to what is needed.

In a recent article, Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Fellow John Lande breaks down the results of a creative session held at the American Bar Association’s Section on Dispute Resolution Conference earlier this year. The session (and article) borrows its message from hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who said he always tried to skate “where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

Four justices who served with former chief justice Roy Moore are among 10 current and former justices of both parties who have endorsed his opponent in Moore’s bid to be chief justice again. He was removed from the court in 2003 for ignoring a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments display from the state judicial building.

When significant amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect last December, we celebrated this important achievement but also stressed that how the rules were implemented would be key to seeing a positive impact. The importance of how the amendments are being implemented has not been lost on the bench and bar. In fact, it has been the focus of 2016.

Governor Rick Perry appointed his chief of staff to fill a supreme court vacancy created by Justice Dale Wainwright’s September resignation. Governor Perry has a history of appointing close advisors to top state positions including seats on the high court.

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…

Approximately one year ago, on November 1, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York implemented a Pilot Project Regarding Case Management Techniques for Complex Civil Cases. The Board of Judges has now extended the pilot project for an additional eighteen months, to expire September 30, 2014.

IAALS board member Russell Wheeler discusses recent proposals to apply the United States Judicial Conference's Code of Conduct for United States Judges to members of the Supreme Court and establish a new appellate route to review recusals.