News & Updates

IAALS has announced that CEO David Yellen has accepted the position of dean at the University of Miami School of Law. IAALS will now undertake a full strategic assessment over the summer on how best to address pressing issues in the legal system and legal profession.

New York has set its sights on access to justice and alleviating some of the issues that low-income litigants face needing help from justice system. In his annual State of the Judiciary address on February 17, New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman put forth a number of innovative methods for making the state's judiciary more equitable and accessible.

The ABA Journal discusses the impact of Big Law's preference for graduates from Ivy League and other “elite” law schools. The article notes that such “near obsession with pedigree . . . is damaging to the entire profession” because new statistics…

Harassment, threats, and attacks targeting judges pose dangers not just to judges' safety, but to the rule of law. Across the country, leaders are speaking out on this critical issue.

In a ruling that took some fair courts advocates by surprise, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the authority of states to bar judges and judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign contributions. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the majority opinion in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar, holding that “[a] State’s decision to elect judges does not compel it to compromise public confidence in their integrity.”

Earlier this year, the Kansas Senate rejected by a 22-17 vote a proposed statute that would have eliminated the role of the nominating commission in screening court of appeals candidates and required senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointments—a move strongly favored by Governor Brownback and conservative legislators.

While acknowledging the crucial role of our Constitution and its enduring significance in our nation, we can also advocate for the ongoing enhancement of our justice system to fully uphold the principles of the rule of law.

The United Kingdom is experimenting with a new and innovative approach to resolving family legal issues through the Family Solutions Court. Judge John Altman, the Designated Family Judge for London, launched the program, which provides early alternative dispute resolution in the court for family disputes and encourages quick resolution.

Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers is proud to note that David Thomson, one of our first Fellows, is being honored with the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Denver. The award recognizes excellence in teaching and emphasizes the degree to which Thomson's teaching has constructively influenced his students. This honor will be conferred at the University of Denver's Fall Convocation in October 2012.

In November, Oregon made history by introducing a non-exam, performance-based pathway to licensure for lawyers. By exploring alternative routes and gathering data, other states can establish rigorous, fair systems that foster competent legal professionals.

Those who attended the 4th Annual Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Conference were among the first to learn about initial results from our national Foundations for Practice study. We will be sharing detailed results over the next several months, but here is a glimpse of what we already know.

Thirty-three percent of supreme, appellate, and superior court judges are women—an increase of eight percent since 2002. This figure comes close to matching the percentage of Connecticut Bar Association members who are women—34 percent.

At IAALS, philanthropic support is essential to advancing our mission of building a more accessible, fair, and efficient legal system. To assist in these efforts, we recently welcomed Megan Loeb as our Assistant Director of Development, Foundations, and Sponsored Programs.

An important takeaway from the May 2010 Conference on Civil Litigation held at Duke University Law School, sponsored by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, was that the disposition of civil actions in our federal courts could be improved by advancing early judicial case management. As a result, the package of amendments that grew out of the Duke Conference, and that went into effect on December 1 of this year, seek to promote sustained, active, hands-on judicial case management.

In Sanders County Republican Committee v. Bullock, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Montana law that restricted political parties from endorsing or contributing to judicial campaigns. The Atlantic reports their disfavor with the Ninth Circuit’s decision, maintaining the statute acted to “protect the integrity of [Montana’s] nonpartisan judicial elections” and “stood as a bulwark against the corroding effect of money's influence on judicial integrity.”

This week, the Denver Post published an article highlighting Denver’s new Center for Out-of-Court Divorce, which provides a child-focused, less-adversarial, and potentially less-costly approach for families when parents are separating.

Following public interviews of 18 applicants and private deliberations, the appellate judicial commission selected three nominees for possible appointment to the supreme court vacancy created by Justice Ray Price’s retirement. Three interviewees were women and one was a minority, with six from outside metropolitan areas. Governor Nixon must make the appointment within 60 days.

A recent study by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is shedding new light on the demographics of state judiciaries across the country. The Gavel Gap project collected data based on the race, ethnicity, and gender of 10,000 sitting state court judges, and then analyzed how closely each state’s bench reflects its population.

Recognizing that there is widespread concern that the civil justice system is too complex, costs too much, and takes too long, a new report provides recommendations for designing short, summary, and expedited (“SSE”) programs and calls for implementation of such programs on a national scale. The report, A Return to Trials: Implementing Effective Short, Summary, and Expedited Civil Action Programs, is co-authored by IAALS, ABOTA, and the NCSC.

The Conference of Chief Justices has recognized the important needs of litigants in our state courts, and has answered the call to action to improve our civil justice system by adopting the Recommendations of its Civil Justice Improvements Committee earlier this month.