News & Updates

One student’s exploration of whether the phrase “think like a lawyer” has lost a uniform definition, if not all meaning altogether. Here’s her take on this “flurry of semantical, romantical fun,” inspired by Judith Welch Wegner’s Reframing Legal…

We recently sat down to talk with John Gleason. As Regulation Counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court, he directs the office of the Court responsible for lawyer admissions, registration, regulation, and client protection. In 2010, Gleason was appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court to investigate and prosecute Andrew Thomas, the former Maricopa County Attorney—a prosecution that last week ended in the disbarment of Thomas and one of his lieutenants, and the suspension of another attorney in Thomas’ office.

The Legal Skills Prof Blog provides seven tips for how law firms and attorneys can make sure that skills-based legal education is a priority--including making a commitment to interview at schools with strong skills programs, like those in our Consortium.

Scott Fruehwald featured Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers for our Family Law with Skills course, co-taught by Andy Schepard and Herbie DiFonzo.

The house judiciary committee rejected by a 7-7 vote a proposal calling for all of the state’s judges to be chosen in popular elections. A majority vote was needed for the bill to advance to the full legislature. The measure also failed to get a majority vote in the senate finance committee.

Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers adds two new partners to its Consortium of law schools that demonstrate a commitment to legal education reform and current Carnegie-style curricular offerings. Albany Law School has a long-established focus on student…

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.

We are pleased to announce that professors whose courses are featured on the ETL website will be named Fellows of Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers in order to honor their roles in advancing legal education. 

A recent blog post by Jeff Lipshaw on the inevitability of multi-disciplinarity in law practice made comparisons to a Wall Street Journal article* that called for expansion of the undergraduate business major: “. . .I understand this is about…

The state legislature approved a new judicial discipline system, calling for replacing the existing disciplinary body—the court on the judiciary—with an entity known as the board of judicial conduct. The ten judge members will be appointed by judicial organizations, rather than by the state bar and the supreme court, and the six non-judge members will be chosen by the governor and the speakers of the house and senate.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a lower federal court decision that rejected a challenge to the role of lawyers on the state’s judicial nominating commissions. The lawsuit alleged that it is unconstitutional for the lawyer members to play a part in selecting judges because they are chosen by the state bar association, rather than by voters or an elected official.

Federal Circuit Chief Judge Randall Rader, who last year unveiled the Model Order on E-Discovery Cases developed by the Federal Circuit Advisory Council's E-Discovery Committee, recently told a conference of intellectual property lawyers that "more…

Governor Haslam indicated that he would support moving to a federal selection system for the state’s appellate judges, after a senate committee approved such a proposal. Earlier this year Haslam joined with Lieutenant Governor Ramsey and House Speaker Harwell to sponsor a bill that would constitutionalize the current merit selection and retention plan. A third measure calling for contested elections of judges is also under consideration.

Supreme court justice Joan Orie Melvin’s sister was convicted on 24 corruption charges, but not on theft and ethics-related charges involving the justice’s past campaigns. Legal experts said this did not rule out a grand jury indictment of Justice Melvin.

The Republican candidate for attorney general voiced his support for moving to a federal system of selecting judges. Such a proposal passed a house committee in March and is under consideration in the senate judiciary committee.

Justice Frank Sullivan announced his intention to step down by the end of August, allowing Governor Daniels to make his third appointment to the high court. It also presents another opportunity to appoint a woman to the all-male court.

His fellow supreme court justices elected Justice Ricky Polston to serve as the next chief justice. The position rotates among the court’s members. Polston was appointed to the court in 2008 by Governor Crist.

Two supreme court races are on the ballot in November, with two Republicans and six Democrats vying for the seats. As the May 8 primary approached, the candidates expressed differing views on judicial recusal, public financing for judicial campaigns, and the need for an intermediate appellate court.

John S. Gleason is Regulation Counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court, where he directs the office responsible for lawyer admissions, registration, regulation, and client protection. He recently sat down with Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers to talk about legal education and the needs of the profession. In his Voices from the Field interview, Gleason talks about the ethical pitfalls that many law students and new attorneys need exposure to and practice navigating through, and provides insights into how law professors can help.

The Spring 2012 edition of Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly is now available. Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly is a quarterly newsletter reporting highlights from all IAALS initiatives. Sign up for Transparent Courthouse® Quarterly and other IAALS…