News & Updates

A proposal to establish seven-year renewable terms for judges, who now enjoy life tenure to age 70, received majority support in the house of representatives but did not get the three-fifths vote required for a constitutional amendment.

There are three supreme court seats up for election in November, one of which is an open seat. Though the parties do not officially nominate candidates until their conventions later this year, Democrats give non-binding nods to favorites at the spring convention.

The house of representatives voted to abolish the Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance and end the state’s judicial performance evaluation program. While House Democrats believe the program provides important information to voters about judges, Republicans questioned its impartiality since all evaluated judges have been recommended for retention.

The judicial nominating commission created last April by Governor Perdue held hearings in three cities to hear from the public about the qualities and characteristics judges should possess. The commission screens and recommends applicants for positions on the supreme court, court of appeals, and superior court.

The senate approved a proposed ballot measure that would raise the retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. A similar measure is stalled in the house.

University of Georgia Law is conducting a survey of people working in the legal field to determine what research skills are most valuable for law graduates.

Nevada Senator William J. Raggio died on February 23. Senator Raggio was a 2010 IAALS Transparent Courthouse® Award recipient, along with his fellow Nevadan former Assembly Speaker Barbara E. Buckley. IAALS chose Senator Raggio because of his extraordinary efforts to promote a judicial selection system in Nevada that would assure impartiality and accountability.

With no Democrats filing to run, the March Republican primary will determine the successor to Justice Thomas Woodall, who is not seeking reelection. The two candidates are a court of appeals judge and a circuit court judge, both of whom support partisan elections because they provide a cue to voters regarding a candidate’s philosophy.

The senate rejected a proposal supported by Governor Brownback that would have eliminated the judicial nominating commission's role in screening applicants for the state's court of appeals and given the senate a role in confirming appointments to this court.

In response to growing complaints from the public, a new accreditation system will require medical residency programs "to demonstrate that their trainees have the skills and personal attributes they need to be competent, empathetic doctors." The system will provide more detailed feedback and will focus on outcomes, rather than process.

A circuit court judge and former Republican is one of six candidates competing in the Democratic primary for a Cook County appellate court vacancy. With no Republican candidates, the Democratic primary will determine the winner of that seat and the other five Cook County appellate court seats.

Some Canadian law schools are looking at ways to offer more experiential education: Regardless of the type of experiential learning, whether it’s participating in one of the law school’s clinics or one of its various intensive programs, [Osgoode dean…

This collection of articles takes a look at changing career outlooks and expectations for law graduates interested in pursuing a career in NLJ 250 firms.

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.

Only one attorney applied to fill a district court vacancy. Some speculated that potential applicants were discouraged by the fact that the appointee must run in November to keep the seat, for which another attorney has already filed to run.

Governor Branstad recently made thirty appointments to the state’s district judicial nominating commissions. Many of them oppose the merit selection process, and at least one of them was active in the campaign to defeat the three justices up for retention in 2010.

The last election for supreme court chief justice, in 2006, was the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history in terms of fundraising, but the three Republicans candidates for the seat in 2012 are setting records so far for what they are not raising.

A Democratic lawmaker proposed a public financing system for supreme court elections, pointing to concerns about justices appearing to be influenced by campaign contributors.

The house of representatives approved a measure that would expand the governor’s power over the state’s judicial nominating commissions. The governor appoints the nine members of each commission, with the bar making recommendations for four of those members.

The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission reported an increase in judicial applicants from 2010 to 2011, including an upswing in the number of applicants from larger law firms. The commission's chair attributed this to a greater effort by the commission to reach out to attorneys representing a cross-section of the bar.