News & Updates

Professional ethics rules have long prevented judges from speaking about their rulings and opinions. However, beginning next month, California state judges will be able to comment directly on pending cases—their own or those of a judicial colleague—in connection with a judicial election or recall campaign. 

As an interdisciplinary team, the students at the Resource Center provide services to families going through separation and divorce that they cannot get anywhere else. The comprehensive suite of services provided wouldn’t be possible for any one of us to offer singlehandedly. However, when we put our heads together, so to speak, we have the ability to help families go through the entire process, beginning to end, from all angles.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan recently joined Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the honorary chair of our O'Connor Advisory Committee, at the Newseum to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Justice O'Connor's first term on the Court.

Courts across the country have made giant strides in the use of technology in the wake of COVID-19. The Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators are urging state court officials to continue this momentum, and they have recommended six principles related to courts’ use of technology going forward.

On June 5, Alli Gerkman, Director of Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, appeared on Colorado Public Radio to talk about efforts being made on a national scale to change legal education and how Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers is leading the way. During the interview, Gerkman discusses the need to bridge the gap between law schools and the profession and the opportunity to forge a better path forward.

Washington & Lee law professor and Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Fellow Jim Moliterno recently presented at Pepperdine Law Review Symposium on “The Lawyer of the Future.” Moliterno also discussed his school's innovative third year curricula, including tracks for both litigation and transactional immersion.

IAALS has announced that Utah Supreme Court Justice Deno Himonas and Utah attorney John Lund are the recipients of the organization’s 2021 Rebuilding Justice Award. IAALS is proud to recognize the achievements of Himonas and Lund for their efforts in founding Utah’s Office of Legal Services Innovation.

There have been a few new resources made available for separating or divorcing families in the United Kingdom, including a website that provides information for families, a collection of legal expertise and advice in legal areas, and a guide for parents who wish to separate cooperatively.

The May 2012 edition of the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers newsletter is now available. Sign up for this and other IAALS newsletters here.

IAALS and HiiL have completed the first nationwide survey of its size to measure how Americans across a broad range of socio-demographic groups experience and resolve their legal problems. The full US Justice Needs report with the survey results will be released on September 1, with two live webinars presenting the data, reporting on the outcomes, and suggesting solutions.

Discovery in the United States is much more broad than other common law countries. While such differences in approach pose challenges in terms of cross-border discovery, our recent report, Allocating the Costs of Discovery: Lessons Learned at Home and Abroad, highlights the lessons to be learned for those at home by looking to more reasonable and proportionate discovery methods used abroad.

Professor Brian Tamanaha, who authored Failing Law Schools, penned an op-ed for the New York Times on the debt and joblessness of recent law school graduates and points to two culprits: American Bar Association accreditation standards and the federal…

The challenges we face continue to upend our lives. But we cannot go back, so instead we must forge a better future. Our work in 2021, as described in our Annual Report, has moved the needle and opened new doors for those in need of justice.

Last year, the ABA’s Student Lawyer featured Alli Gerkman and her advice for current law students. Gerkman discussed the value of building a personal network and the importance of making and fostering professional connections right from the get-go. "Your success and your ability to make an impact are limited only by the breadth and quality of your personal connections," she said.

Governor Abercrombie appointed Circuit Court Judge Richard Pollack to the supreme court. Pollack was one of five nominees submitted by the judicial selection commission. This was Governor Abercrombie’s second appointment to the supreme court of his eighteen-month tenure, and he may have the opportunity to fill a third seat on the five-member court.

IAALS has promoted Michael Houlberg to director of special projects; joining IAALS are Jessica Bednarz as director of legal services and the profession along with Kirk Jones as senior director of operations.

The Alaska Supreme Court has issued an Order establishing an informal trial for divorce, property division, parenting agreements, and child support cases. The informal trial process is voluntary. If both parties to a case consent to an informal trial, they will speak directly to the judge and the Rules of Evidence will be relaxed.

Results from two efforts to evaluate judicial candidates in the state have been released recently. The King County Bar Association’s screening committee gave “unqualified” ratings to three of 13 candidates for contested seats on the King County Superior Court.

In 2020, IAALS published its groundbreaking report on the 12 building blocks of minimum competence to be a lawyer, our 5 insights for assessment, and our 10 recommendations for better legal licensing. Here, we cover the seventh, eighth, and ninth building blocks of minimum competence.

In a recent article in the California Bar Journal, Judge Mark A. Juhas of the Los Angeles County Superior Court described the numerous benefits that unbundled legal services and limited scope representation provide those seeking access to the courts…