News & Updates

The Agenda Book for the upcoming meeting of the federal Advisory Committee on Civil Rules (April 10-11, 2014) is now available online. The Agenda Book includes reports from the Duke and Discovery Subcommittees, along with the Subcommittees' current proposed rule amendments and Committee Notes, taking into account the public hearing testimony and over 2000 comments submitted during the public comment period.

For the second year in a row, the U.S. News and World Report's 2015 law school rankings have taken advantage of the rich employment data now made public by the American Bar Association. But as the Economist noted last week, the rankings have not yet made use of an interesting piece of data the ABA has published: whether student jobs reported by schools were funded by law schools.

Access to justice is by no means a new conversation in the United States, but it has been a frequent topic of conversation over the last few months. The issue took to the international stage last Thursday and Friday when the United Nations Human Rights Committee asked the U.S. to account for its growing civil justice gap, with two worrisome trends dominating the discussion.

A proposed amendment to the South Carolina constitution purports to change the waiting period for a no-fault divorce from 365 days to 150 days. Opponents argue that shortening the waiting period will lead to an increase in divorce, while proponents believe that the one year waiting period creates financial problems for couples and unneeded stress for children.

The Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association dedicated its Winter 2014 publication to the Judiciary. As part of the WTLA’s review of the bench, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis wrote an article about one way that Wyoming can enhance its selection and retention process, by conducting judicial performance evaluations.

Rhode Island's judicial nominating commission met recently to discuss potential improvements to the commission's work. Much of the discussion focused on the transparency of the process. The governor has allotted $7,500 to hire an expert to advise the commission on its procedures, with any proposed changes subject to a public hearing process.

The terms of three members of Florida's seven-member supreme court are set to expire at the same time that the next Florida governor's term expires—on January 8, 2019. Recognizing that state law is unclear as to whether the outgoing or incoming governor has the authority to fill judicial vacancies that occur on inauguration day, a Republican senator has offered a proposed constitutional amendment that would empower the outgoing governor to make these appointments.

It is undisputed that divorce can be a costly endeavor for families, but a recent study from Great Britain suggests that the economic impact of divorce extends far beyond the family unit. This month, Great Britain’s Welfare Minister released alarming statistics from a recent study by the Relationships Foundation. The study estimated that family breakdown costs the country £46 billion a year—£1,541 for every taxpayer.

The Kansas Supreme Court's long-awaited school funding decision may prevent an all-out legislative assault on the state's courts. On March 7, the high court ruled that funding disparities among the state's school districts violate the state constitution. According to Kansas' attorney general, the court adopted a middle ground.

Change is happening in law schools across the country. While most are evolving independently, many schools are working toward the same end: developing new teaching methods and strategies that teach students skills that will give them an edge with employers. A recent U.S. News and World Report article highlights a few of these efforts from Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Consortium schools, which emphasize practical skills training and a more hands-on understanding of what it means to be a lawyer.

Utah requires divorcing couples to attend a two-hour seminar, and one lawmaker has proposed splitting the seminar into separate segments, the first of which occurring earlier in the process to help remind couples that reconciliation is an option. Meanwhile, a bill in Alabama would require couples with children to take a class designed to increase parents' sensitivity to their children's needs.

Over at the Talent Code, Daniel Coyle talks about a trauma surgeon who described the best training session he ever witnessed: an unexpected, staged accident, complete with chaos, fake blood, and hidden victims. In law school there might not be much use for fake blood, but there are educators asking students to role play.

The San Diego Superior Court has implemented a new pilot program that allows couples to complete a simple divorce in just one day. The program has only a few requirements and is designed to foster collaboration between the parties so that the process can move swiftly toward less-adversarial resolution.

In a classic example of "two heads are better than one," a group of stakeholders and legislators has come together to accomplish a substantial compromise on parental responsibility legislation and the family court process in Minnesota. The group took what were two sets of polarized opinions and came to a compromise that encompasses changes to parenting time, custody issues, and other family court processes in the state.

As we strive to improve the American legal system, we do so in collaboration with some of the best minds in the country. It is through the expertise and guidance of these partners that we are able to forge innovative and practical solutions to the problems in our system. In short, our advisors make our work possible. As we begin 2014, we say farewell and a profound 'thank you' to two board members, and welcome two more who have taken up the mantle.

Chief Judge Johnathan Lippman of the New York Court of Appeals has announced a new program designed to allow third-year law students to sit for the bar exam in February, so long as they devote their final semester to pro bono work. Ideally, the program will give indigent clients more access to legal representation, while also helping students gain the practical legal experience needed upon graduation from law school.

The National Jurist has named its top 60 law schools that offer practical training, including a number of Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Consortium schools. The rankings were determined by the number of clinic positions per enrollment, the number of field placements or externships per enrollment, the number of simulation courses per enrollment, and additional information about practical training offerings.

Texas' Republican primary elections on March 4 have brought together an unusual combination of candidates and campaign contributors, at least with respect to the state's highest court. The incumbent Republican justices have received support from a typical source—advocates of tort reform and limitations on civil lawsuits—but their Republican challengers are benefiting from donations by trial attorneys and left-of-center groups, who historically have backed Democratic candidates.

In a recent article, Law Week Colorado covered IAALS' newest publication, Working Smarter, Not Harder: How Excellent Judges Manage Cases. The article features interviews with IAALS Executive Director and former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis and 4th Judicial District Judge David Prince, one of the judges who was featured in Working Smarter.

In a recent post on the long-awaited results from pilot project experimentation around the country, we shared evaluations from the New Hampshire and Boston Litigation Session pilot projects. Initial data is now available from Utah as well, where significant rule changes were implemented in 2011, including comprehensive initial disclosures, a requirement that discovery be proportional, and tiered discovery based on amount in controversy.