News & Updates

Washington State’s innovative Limited License Legal Technicians (LLLT) program was recently evaluated by the National Center for State Courts and found to be a well-designed program for expanding legal assistance. LLLTs are non-lawyers who are specially trained to provide certain kinds of legal assistance. And, unlike paralegals, LLLTs practice without having to be supervised by a lawyer. Becoming a LLLT requires an associate-level degree of at least 45 credits and an additional 15 credits in family law from an ABA-approved law school. In Washington, the training is provided by the University of Washington School of Law, with Gonzaga University School of Law professors helping to teach the courses.

On January 17, The University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced that Michael Hunter Schwartz had been appointed the new dean of the William H. Bowen School of Law. Schwartz is an Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers fellow, who has demonstrated a commitment to integrating practice-based learning and professionalism into the classroom. We thank Schwartz for his commitment to improving legal education and congratulate him on his much deserved appointment.

Newly elected president of the American Judges Association (AJA) and IAALS board member Judge Kevin Burke has launched a blog on behalf of the AJA.

Faced with rising numbers of people in poverty, funding deficiencies, and an increase in self-represented litigants in state courts, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators unanimously passed Resolution 5, in July 2015, to address these issues directly and to reaffirm their commitment to meaningful justice for all.

Justice Pat Roggensack and Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone were the top two vote-getters in the February 19 primary election for a seat on Wisconsin’s supreme court, and they will compete in the April 2 general election.

IAALS board member Russell Wheeler was interviewed for this article, which focused on a federal judicial selection process in which President Obama has been slow to nominate and the Senate has been slow to confirm federal judges.

No system of judicial selection and retention is perfect; however, merit selection systems attempt to balance judicial independence with voter accountability. Those are the comments of IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis who, along with IAALS Board Member Chief Justice (Ret.) Ruth McGregor of the Arizona Supreme Court, was interviewed by an investigative reporter for a  Goldwater Institute paper on the benefits of using a merit selection system for municipal judgeships.

Consistent with the promise made in its mission statement to “blend practical skills training with legal theory throughout the curriculum,” Golden Gate University School of Law integrates skills training and professional development across its curriculum, preparing students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and leaders in the legal profession. This commitment to experiential learning and fostering professional identity within law students makes GGU Law an ideal partner within the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Consortium.

Governor Christie publicly criticized a state trial court judge who ruled that requiring increased contributions to judicial pension plans is an indirect reduction in judges’ pay and in violation of the state constitution. The lawsuit was filed by a judge.

It is inspiring to watch as more and more states begin to address access to justice issues within their own courts. Arizona has been a leader in taking up the Call to Action from the Conference of Chief Justices and is in the process of implementing reforms. Arizona’s Civil Justice Reform Committee issued its report and recommendations, A Call to Reform: The Committee on Civil Justice Reform’s Report to the Arizona Judicial Council, in October 2016. The Supreme Court reviewed those recommendations and issued a series of rule changes that will take effect July 1, 2018.

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.

The Federal Circuit Advisory Council unanimously voted to adopt the proposed "Model Order on E-Discovery in Patent Cases." The model would limits on electronic discovery. Click here to read the article.

IAALS offers this new report for legal practitioners, service providers, and other access to justice advocates, which details the themes, recommendations, and strategic plans that emerged from our Better Access through Unbundling Conference—with takeaways for every jurisdiction, whether or not they have embraced unbundling to this point.

I am pleased to announce that my new book, Skills & Values: Lawyering Process - Legal Writing and Advocacy was published last week. It is an entirely different sort of legal writing textbook, different from the traditional legal writing textbook in several ways. To begin with, it is a hybrid text, which means only a portion of the entire text is printed, with the rest residing on the Lexis Web Courses platform. It is also based on the assumption that students today need to read less and do more.

As David Segal’s November 19 article accurately reflects, the legal market is changing.  Clients are no longer willing to foot the bill for young lawyers’ training, and thus law firms are increasingly looking to the law schools to produce practice-ready graduates. The good news is that there are clear solutions to the problem, and they are already in motion.

As a former president of the ACTL and one of our very first board members, Ozzie has been an invaluable resource at IAALS, and his steadfast dedication to the organization has been critical to its success. We thank him for over a decade of hard work at IAALS and his continued support of our mission. 

On August 15, 2013, the public comment period opened on the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This package of amendments represents the culmination of several years of work on the part of the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, with the end goal of streamlining the pre-trial process, and particularly discovery, so as to achieve a “just, speedy, and inexpensive” process. The public comment period will run through February 15, 2014.

A campaign finance reform task force recommended public financing for judicial elections. The state first enacted limits on contributions to judicial and other candidates in 2009.

On Thursday, April 25, IAALS will present the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and our four Foundations for Practice partner schools with the 2019 Rebuilding Justice Annual Award at our 12th Annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner for their efforts in bringing the Foundations project to life.

Chad C. Schmucker, former state court administrator and circuit judge of Jackson County, Michigan, will become the 8th president of the National Judicial College in 2014. As president, he will work to provide innovative judicial education and improve the competency of judges across the nation. Judge Schmucker’s dedication to case management and court efficiency will certainly be a hallmark of his National Judicial College presidency.