News & Updates

The National Center for State Courts has released its final evaluation of Utah’s significant statewide changes to the rules governing disclosures and discovery, implemented in November 2011. The rule changes incorporate proportionality as a key principle governing the scope of discovery.

The August 2012 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available.

January is Child-Centered Divorce Awareness Month, emphasizing the need for a more child-centric approach to the separation process. Various organizations, including IAALS, provide resources guiding individuals towards a cooperative divorce process that prioritizes children's well-being for lasting positive outcomes.

We’re incredibly excited to share the first results of our Foundations for Practice project and help build on what we’ve learned at this year’s Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference. Foundations for Practice is a first-of-its-kind effort to identify the foundations entry-level lawyers need to succeed in practice.

In the wake of rampant negative legal education press, and at a time when there are many questions about legal education, Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers has offered solutions… and hit a number of milestones. In our first year, we have grown our…

There is a clear groundswell that we must do more than just laud democracy and the rule of law. While there is great importance in speaking to the value of these American institutions, there is a great necessity to do much more to uphold them.

In this Ignite talk from the 2015 ETL Conference, we talk about the new Problem Solving I course, which is a required course, taught during the 1L Fall Semester. This course introduces students to a standard problem-solving methodology that they can use in a variety of settings, including transactional, litigation, and governmental. This course also stresses the importance of fact gathering. Students participate in five simulations, including an interview each student conducts during the second week of law school.

The Florida Supreme Court has recently amended its Rules of Civil Procedure to address the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). These amendments became effective September 1, 2012.

The Above the Line Network has launched the ATLN Hub, a new website that provides an online home for the growing community of leaders working together to make legal services more affordable for everyday people.

Last Thursday and Friday, February 25 and 26, IAALS hosted its Fourth Civil Justice Reform Summit, focused on creating the just, speedy, and inexpensive courts of tomorrow. The goal of the summit was to bring together stakeholders to chart the next steps for creating the just, speedy, and inexpensive courts of tomorrow.

With North Carolina's election day looming near, The Charlotte Observer has featured two contrasting opinion pieces, each advocating for the appointment or election of North Carolina judges.

The federal rule amendments that went into effect on December 1, 2015, represent the culmination of years of effort dedicated to improving our civil justice system in the federal courts. While we recognize it took much hard work to get this far, to…

According to campaign finance filings, the group formed to support the retention of three justices on the November ballot--Defend Justice from Politics--has raised and spent $1.45 million. The justices themselves have raised $1.36 million.

Conservative groups have mounted a loosely organized effort to oppose the retention of Justice John Pelander because of his vote in a 3-2 ruling that allows Proposition 121 to appear on the November ballot.

Figuring out how to educate law students to meet the needs of modern law practice is vitally important given shrinking job markets and changing demands on lawyers. IAALS has accepted that challenge with its Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers initiative, which focuses on preparing new lawyers for successful participation in the legal profession. Law schools have traditionally focused on applicants’ LSAT scores and grade point averages to determine admissions to law schools. This produces a student body designed to perform well on standardized tests and in college-type settings. 

In Bexar County, the recent election has produced another wave of straight-ticket voting on judges. Texas is one of only three states in which voters can cast a straight-party ballot for all candidates, including judicial candidates. This year, Democrats won all but one of the races, but in 2010, a similar partisan sweep resulted in Republicans winning every contested judicial race in Bexar County.

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) has launched a new resource in Canada. The National Database of Professionals Assisting SRLs contains contact information for attorneys offering unbundled legal services, and paralegals and other professionals willing to offer affordable services.

This month, IAALS launched the first edition of IAALS Report, our new monthly newsletter. It’s a great way to keep up with news and progress in all four of our initiatives: Quality Judges, Rule One, Honoring Families, and Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers. We believe IAALS Report will be a convenient way to keep you even more informed about issues affecting the civil justice system as we move into 2013.

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.

In his first news conference, new Republican Governor Pat McCrory rescinded the executive order enacted by his predecessor, Democratic Governor Bev Perdue, creating a judicial nominating commission for filling midterm vacancies on the state’s courts.