News & Updates

IAALS’ recent report describes a large but relatively unknown group of executive branch adjudicators who are not "Administrative Law Judges" (ALJs) governed by the Administrative Procedure Act. The report describes principal Non-ALJ characteristics, giving special attention to the degree to which agencies that employ them seek to protect their impartiality.

The Colorado Civil Access Pilot Project (CAPP) has been extended by one year, now applying to relevant cases filed through December 31, 2014. Chief Justice Bender’s amended Directive states that the project’s extension will provide “more data and a detailed evaluation” and “give the court time to determine whether the rules as piloted achieved the stated goals." IAALS is conducting the CAPP evaluation at the request of the Colorado Supreme Court, and will issue a public report upon its completion.

Following this decision, the judicial selection commission revised its rules to allow for public disclosure of nominees. The commission recently announced the names of six nominees sent to Chief Justice Recktenwald for appointment to a district court vacancy.

This month, IAALS welcomes Lynnea Louison as our new Senior Director of Operations. We are so fortunate to have someone of her experience and caliber join our team, and we are excited for what the future holds. Welcome to the IAALS family, Lynnea!  

Part of what we do at IAALS is to convene people who have different viewpoints around a particular topic—in hopes that areas of consensus will emerge from the dialogue. We convened one such group last spring, comprised of ideologically and experientially diverse participants, on the subject of judicial selection and the attributes we want in our judges. Focused on a simple question, "What are the most important characteristics or qualities of a judge," there was remarkable unanimity around the room.

In upholding the state’s ban on direct corporate contributions to political candidates and parties, the supreme court noted that judicial elections are particularly vulnerable to anonymous spending by large corporations.

Technological advances in the legal field are growing around the world, but different countries are seeing that growth manifest at different speeds and in different ways. In Australia, legal technology is just beginning to explode, and very quickly.

Over the summer, the Tennessee legislature declined to renew the state's judicial nominating commission, which was used to recommend well-qualified candidates for appellate judgeships to the governor. Instead, lawmakers chose to let Tennesseans weigh in on the issue in 2014. The judicial selection process appeared to be in limbo in the interim, but Republican Governor Bill Haslam has acted to fill the gap, creating a screening panel by executive order.

The current standards for education of new lawyers are problematic, but we cannot fix legal education without addressing the challenges that face the legal system as a whole.

In partnership with national experts, IAALS has developed three new guides to support real change in state courts. Stemming from our work on the Civil Justice Initiative and Family Justice Initiative, the guides are designed to assist in creating effective self-help information for those who need it, developing problem-solving approaches for families in court, and providing insight for judges who interface with self-represented litigants.

In a recent opinion dissenting from the denial of certiorari in an Alabama death penalty case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned whether the pressures of partisan judicial elections influence judges' decisions in cases involving hot-button issues like capital punishment. Social scientists have examined the question before, and have come to similar conclusions.

Though they have been proponents of electing judges in the past, two justices are calling for moving to some form of merit selection for the state's supreme court. Justices Crooks and Bradley cited concerns about the surge in spending on supreme court races, as well as the lack of meaningful disclosure and recusal rules.

From my perspective as the director of a law school innovation lab, legal education is disengaged from the regulatory reform effort: only a handful of legal academics have chimed in on regulatory reform or been involved in task force efforts. But legal education should join the conversation and prepare for the changes ahead, for several reasons.

It comes as no surprise to those who work in or with the courts that many litigants these days proceed through the civil and family court system without an attorney. The figures collected and released in Indiana’s recent State of the Judiciary show that over half of all civil and family law litigants in 2013 were self-represented. And such high rates are not unique to Indiana.

In February, twelve more law schools were targeted with lawsuits claiming they misled prospective students about future job prospects. But some say the plaintiffs have little chance of success.

This month, The Pew Charitable Trusts released a new report that looks at trends in debt collection lawsuits in the United States and suggests steps that courts can take to modernize our state civil justice system and ensure access to justice. The economic impacts of the pandemic make these recommendations all the more critical and timely.

With state legislatures in session around the country and considering bills that would impact the selection and tenure of state judges, IAALS Online provides this summary of where things stand at the end of March. Developments in: Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington.

A district court judge struck down a ballot referendum scheduled for the June primary that called for the election of supreme court justices by district rather than statewide. According to the judge, the measure would alter the constitutional qualifications for service on the supreme court.

In a recent op-ed, IAALS Founding Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch commend recent legal regulatory reforms in Utah and Arizona and call for more states across the country to make similar bold changes.

Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a prospective law student who has not obsessed over law school rankings like US News and World Report. In fact, it is likely that many prospective students use rankings as one of the heaviest weighted factors in making their decisions about which school to attend. But should they? Local and regional economies and students' personal connections to a community are two factors that are just as important.