News & Updates

The Above the Line Network strongly supports the Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future recommendation to advise practitioners on alternative fee structures to address the state's attorney shortage. ATLN has submitted public comments to advise practitioners on alternative fee arrangements.

Rebuilding justice. This is an awesome charge. And it is one that IAALS has embraced since its beginnings in 2006. IAALS was started as an attempt to remake the American legal system. While our system has many virtues, it is inefficient. It is unequal. Fundamentally, it is imperfect. But we are a country of laws, and the legal process is the thread that holds together our enviable conception of democracy. Therefore, the desire for a perfect system of justice is a natural outgrowth of that foundational goal of a more perfect union. But justice is more than systems. Justice is about people. Justice is about hopes and dreams and goals. Justice is about dignity. This is why the idea of rebuilding justice is so awesome, so ambitious, and so necessary.  

Justice Paul J. De Muniz was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court in 2000 and served as the court's Chief Justice and administrative head of the Oregon Judicial Department from January 2006 to May 2012. As we launch IAALS Online, he joins three other former Chief Justices in the conversation about IAALS and its initiatives by discussing the work of our Honoring Families Initiative. "Like with other parts of our court systems, now is the time to ask hard questions about the structure, operation, tradition, and culture of our family courts. We could begin by asking whether our traditional adversarial model actually meets the needs of divorcing and separating families. Is it not time to reengineer our family courts in ways that are less adversarial, that encourage continued parental involvement with their children, and that provide for alternative forums and processes outside the court system for resolving parenting issues in a more consensual manner?"

A recent Wall Street Journal article details how one of America’s foremost jurists has declared war on legal jargon. Judge Richard Posner, who sits on of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, has launched an aggressive assault on legalese.

With less than a month until the November elections, a federal judge struck down the state’s limits on campaign contributions, finding that existing limits prevent candidates from mounting effective campaigns. The case was brought by conservative activists, corporations, and Republican groups.

As the number of self-represented litigants (or pro se litigants) continue to rise, the legal profession continues to explore alternative means of providing services beyond the traditional lawyer-client relationship. Because many litigants choose to forgo representation due to the cost of hiring an attorney, unbundled legal services are gaining more traction as a way to reduce costs while still providing valuable counsel for clients.

Two supreme court candidates who face a December runoff have taken different tacks in their campaigns. While one candidate has discussed his position as "pro-life, pro-gun and pro-traditional marriage" and a supporter of the death penalty, the other has not publicly shared his views because he does not want to risk having to recuse himself from hearing cases involving controversial issues in the future.

Here's an overview of 2016 election outcomes that impacted state courts and judges. Ballot Measures Georgia voters approved Amendment 3, which abolishes the Judicial Qualifications Commission (the disciplinary entity for the state’s judges) and…

In a recent article, the Economist discusses how "money and back-room politicking are contaminating the selection of judges." The relative ease with which partisan groups can reach voters during a contested judicial election cycle has caused an ever-increasing flood of money to pour into judicial elections. As a result, a candidate's financial and political backing now outweighs their actual qualifications in determining who serves on the bench.

In 1791, the Founding Fathers built the right to a trial by jury into the Bill of Rights in the form of the Seventh Amendment. The right to a jury trial was, and still is, seen as a cornerstone of the civil justice system in this country. So why is…

Last fall, New York University School of Law made news for reorganizing its third-year offerings to better meet the needs of today’s law students. Today, we welcome NYU to the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Consortium of law schools demonstrating significant institutional commitment to legal education reform along the lines proposed in the 2007 Carnegie Report, Educating Lawyers.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which gave rise to Educating Lawyers and its findings and recommendations for legal education reform, recognized the launch of Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers.

Do the methods by which states choose their appellate judges result in benches with different characteristics? A new study concludes that the most distinctive appellate benches are in "merit-confirmation" states, in which the governor's appointment power is constrained, perhaps substantially, by the required consent of a separately elected body.

Only three of twelve Republicans on the senate judiciary committee voted with their Democratic colleagues to advance New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's recent nominee to the state court of appeals, but they did so "without recommendation." Some critics of CUNY law professor Jenny Rivera question the breadth of her legal experience.

State legislatures are increasingly eyeing court budgets as they try to make deep cuts into their budgets, leaving state courts woefully underfunded and causing delays and concerns about the abilities of state courts to dispense justice. Here, Mary…

By now, the word is out that Judge Richard A. Posner is retiring from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. His retirement was unexpected, but his stated reasons for doing so shouldn’t be. In correspondence announcing his departure, Judge Posner sites apparent “difficulty” with his colleagues on the bench over the treatment of self-represented litigants as the motivation to leave the bench. A prompt response from Chief Judge Diane P. Wood, also on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, countered Judge Posner’s claim by stating, in part, “the judges and our staff attorneys take great care with pro se filings.” Judge Posner’s point, though, is more indicative of the entire justice system than a particular court and its staff attorneys.

Responding to a 6-3 supreme court decision that invalidated a legislative initiative requiring a two-thirds vote for tax increases, three Republican senators proposed a bill that would eliminate four justices from the nine-member court, citing the resulting salary savings.

A survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal for the Association of Corporate Counsel suggests that in-house legal departments are refusing to pay for new lawyers. More than 20% responded that they have refused to pay for work by first- or second…

​Another online platform to help couples streamline the divorce process has entered the market. It’s Over Easy was founded by Laura Wasser, a well-known divorce attorney who handles high-stakes celebrity divorces. “Couples today date online and bank online,” Wasser said. “They don’t mind putting in their assets and liabilities into a computer. They’re do-it-yourselfers. If they can buy an espresso maker online, they can get divorced online.”

The Wall Street Journal has published an article examining the push for alimony reform and why it is becoming a growing movement. The main contention is that current alimony laws have the potential to force couples to remain together financially and personally until death, even after divorce. The movement is driven by the opinion that alimony laws have become unfair and outdated in a time when many recipients are healthy, college-educated, and employed.