News & Updates

In February, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis gave the keynote address for the Denton Darrington Annual Lecture on Law and Government in Boise. Speaking on “Building the Just, Speedy, and Inexpensive Civil Courts of Tomorrow: Why We Cannot Afford to Fail,” Kourlis emphasized the importance of a robust and responsive civil justice system, and the need for reform.

Governor Brownback’s chief counsel is among 21 applicants for a court of appeals vacancy. After screening and interviewing the applicants, the nominating commission will identify three candidates from which the governor must choose.

As law schools across the country strive to produce lawyers who can hit the ground running—and as we gear up to launch our Foundations for Practice findings—Alli Gerkman, Director of Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, has been hitting the road around the country to explain how legal educators and employers can work together to shape the future of legal education.

Professor David Thomson from The University of Denver Sturm College of Law has provided a thorough breakdown of the first annual Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Conference on his blog, Law School 2.0. Professor Thomson, one of ETL's first Fellows, was recently honored with the University of Denver's Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching and its significant impact on students.

On June 15, 2015, members of the American Bar Association joined with their British counterparts on a water meadow on the banks of the Thames at Runnymede, county of Surrey, England, directly under the flight path of Heathrow Airport. This event culminated the celebration of the anniversary of perhaps the seminal document on the rule of law: Magna Carta. I had the privilege of not only attending the 800th Anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta, but also of chairing the ABA’s London Programs leading up to the actual anniversary. After two years of planning, the celebration exceeded all expectations, with the Her Majesty the Queen, the Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, other members of the royal family, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the U.S. Attorney General in attendance.

Professor Rebecca Aviel, member of the Steering Committee to the Honoring Families Initiative, has won the third annual Fred C. Zacharias Memorial Prize for Scholarship in Professional Responsibility for her article, “The Boundary Claim’s Caveat: Lawyers and Confidentiality Exceptionalism,” which was published in the Tulane Law Review.

Daniel Ritchie, and his longtime assistant, Carolyn Foster, are moving into offices here at IAALS this week. They left campus eleven years ago when Dan stepped down as Chancellor of the University of Denver. But, throughout his various stints in the interim—the most recent of which was at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts—Dan has always said he wanted to return to campus at some point.

Meaningful access to justice is the most important issue confronting state courts across this country. There can be little doubt that we now have a state justice system in America that is slowly eroding while at the same time becoming increasingly too expensive for the vast majority of our fellow citizens. These developments, left unchecked, will have real consequences that will go to the very core of the American promise. They should concern us all.

In this article, the author suggests that bar examiners consider innovations in bar examiners based on the Carnegie Report.

This month, the Virginia Supreme Court begin pilot testing a performance evaluation program for its appellate judges. Among the sources of guidance to which the court looked in developing the pilot program was IAALS’ Recommended Tools for Evaluating Appellate Judges. With the implementation of this program, Virginia joins ten other states that seek input on appellate judges’ job performance from attorneys and other judges. This feedback is used by appellate judges for self-improvement, and it is also shared with the public to ensure trust and confidence in the judiciary.

In the United States, divorce has been present as far back as the colonization. However, it was not until 2010 that all 50 states had a no-fault divorce law in place, with New York being the last state. Abraham Lincoln is not the first image of a divorce attorney that comes to mind, yet he handled over 125 divorce cases between 1837 and 1861.

In the wake of allegations that a Pennsylvania state senator improperly helped her sister get elected to the state's high court, the Inquirer calls for merit-based appointment of appellate judges.

In a recent article for Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and Rule One Initiative Director Brittany Kauffman discuss how state court and bar leaders across the country are gearing up for major civil justice reforms using the recently released Roadmap for Implementation. The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of the State Court Administrators (COSCA) have 13 recommendations for improvements that the Roadmap guides toward implementation, in an effort to ensure that the legal system is serving those who need it.

Legislators in Illinois have filed three measures that would enhance judicial qualifications and alter the judicial selection and retention process. Among the proposed reforms—which would require amending the constitution—are a commission-based gubernatorial appointment process for filling judicial vacancies and a judicial retention commission to consider the qualifications of judges seeking retention.

Annita M. Menogan is currently responsible for oversight of all legal matters for Red Robin, including compliance and corporate governance, and is a member of the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Advisory Committee. She recently sat down with us to talk about the future for law students and new law graduates in the profession. In her Voices from the Field interview, Menogan raises several issues about the current state of legal education, and some possible solutions.

Princeton Review released their 2018 law school rankings at the end of October—top 10 lists with categories like “Best Classroom Experience,” “Most Competitive Students,” and “Best Career Prospects.” Many of the rankings are based on student feedback; in fact, 10 of the 11 categories either feature or are based entirely on responses to a student survey (“Toughest to Get Into” is the only category based wholly on institutional data). The surveys asked students about professors’ teaching ability and accessibility, number of hours spent studying, diversity, sense of community, and opportunities for externships, internships, and clerkships, among many other topics.

Facing sentencing for a corruption conviction and a house resolution calling for her impeachment, Justice Joan Orie Melvin announced her resignation, effective May 1. Supporters of judicial selection reform are optimistic that these developments will lend momentum to efforts to move to merit selection of the state’s appellate judges.

Minority groups called for the governor, who will make two supreme court nominations in March, to make the state supreme court more diverse. No justices of color currently serve on the court.

On Thursday, April 19, IAALS will present the Conference of Chief Justices with our highest honor: the Rebuilding Justice Award. We are thrilled that several Chief Justices from across the nation will attend and Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, President of the Conference of Chief Justices and chair of the National Center for State Courts Board of Directors, will accept the award.

Numbers matter. As we take on some of the biggest challenges facing the civil justice system, our work depends on the number of stakeholders we bring to the table, our ability to facilitate implementation of our recommended models in numerous instances, and, of course, our careful measurement of the outcomes produced. Our 2012 Annual Report commemorates our commitment to Strength in Numbers.