News & Updates

Professor Steven Friedland of Elon University School of Law uses a problem-based teaching method to guide his required, upper-level Evidence Law course. Drawing upon his trial experience as a prosecutor, Friedland’s course is conducted as a form of “applied trial advocacy,” as opposed to the more traditional “case review” method. The full Evidence Law course portfolio is now available online.

A Tennessee trial court judge has ruled that the composition of the state's judicial performance evaluation commission violates the state constitution. Despite invalidating the commission's composition, the judge did not enjoin its operation, and, three days after the ruling, the commission released its final evaluations and recommendations for the appellate judges standing for retention later this year.

IAALS, in conjunction with the ACTL, has released a new report that highlights key civil case management techniques for judges that have the potential to streamline litigation in their courtrooms. Working Smarter, Not Harder: How Excellent Judges Manage Cases documents the recommendations and key practices of nearly 30 state and federal trial court judges, who were identified as being outstanding and efficient case managers.

In a recent article in The Colorado Lawyer, Judge Elizabeth Starrs gives practitioners insight from the bench, including helpful practice tips and an explanation of the Denver domestic relations process. Many of her observations suggest the benefits of a structured, in-court process for domestic relations disputes, with an emphasis on decreasing the adversarial nature of the proceedings—an approach also advocated by the Honoring Families Initiative.

Rebecca Love Kourlis recently joined in a discussion about the proposed federal rule amendments, as published by the Washington Legal Foundation in their “Conversations With . . .” series. The discussion focused on the state of civil litigation in America, the federal discovery reform efforts, the proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure changes, and what else is needed to improve the discovery process.

Documentary film Divorce Corp opens in cities across the country today, drawing critical attention to family courts and those involved in the system. The Honoring Families Initiative recognizes that cost, complexity, and access are issues in the family court system, and IAALS will be participating on a panel discussion about possible solutions following a screening of the movie in Denver on January 12, which is open to the public.

The Iowa Supreme Court has requested comments on proposed amendments to the discovery provisions in the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure and a proposed new rule allowing for streamlined and expedited civil actions. The proposed amendments and new rule stem from a concern regarding the declining number of civil jury trials in Iowa courts, of which there were only 204 tried to verdict in 2012.

France is considering a proposal that would allow divorcing couples who are in agreement on their issues to divorce without appearing before a judge. Nearly half of French marriages end in divorce, and 54 percent of these divorces are uncontested. Rather than potentially delaying the process in these cases, the "divorce by mutual consent" proposal would authorize court clerks to approve divorces.

With the start of a new year comes the convening of state legislatures around the country, and, in a number of states, judicial selection reform is on the table. Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania will all consider changes in how their judges reach the bench.

IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis paid a pre-holiday, virtual visit to LXBN TV to talk about the effects of partisan elections of judges across the country. Kourlis weighed in on the same concerns that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently voiced regarding the influence that partisan elections can have on judges’ decisions.

In his Voices from the Field interview, John Walsh, U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, encourages legal education reformers to consider new strategies to help teach students more than just legal analysis and case reading, so that they have a better idea of what to expect when they walk into a courtroom as new attorneys.

IAALS will be closed from December 25 through January 1, but we promise to pick up where we left off in the new year! Thanks for reading and being a part of our mission to change the American legal system for the better. We look forward to more big projects in 2014 and hope you’ll be there to help us spread the word. See you on January 2!

According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN), more than $18 million was spent in two Michigan Supreme Court races in 2012. Of this, nearly $14 million was spent on candidate-focused issue advertising, but the sponsors of those ads were not required to disclose their spending or identify their donors. A bill that would codify the current non-disclosure rule has supporters and opponents who are urging the governor to take their side.

IAALS is happy to welcome Colorado Court of Appeals Chief Judge Janice B. Davidson (Ret.) as she takes on her role as Senior Advisor at IAALS. Chief Judge Davidson will be involved with all of IAALS’ initiatives to some extent, but will focus her time primarily on the Quality Judges Initiative, beginning in January 2014.

In August 2014, all of Tennessee's appellate judges will appear on the ballot, and voters will decide whether they should be retained in office. By that time, the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission will have provided information to the public about these judges' performance on the bench. Last month, the commission announced that it may take the unprecedented step of recommending against the retention of three intermediate appellate court judges.

A recent survey asked respondents for their opinions on both court and non-court proceedings for divorcing couples. Overall, only 51 percent of those surveyed indicated they would consider non-court alternatives and only one-fourth believed that non-court proceedings protect parties’ rights. These findings suggest a lack of understanding about out-of-court solutions for families that are often less stressful and less expensive than lengthy in-court proceedings.

We are excited to announce that two new law schools have joined the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Consortium: Loyola University Chicago and Georgia State University. Members of the Consortium demonstrate significant institutional commitment to reforming legal education through innovation, which can include Carnegie-inspired teaching methods, student-centered instruction, and tackling the core competencies that new attorneys need to practice.

Jurors have a unique perspective on our legal system. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with someone who served on a jury this fall in California Superior Court. He had some suggestions as to how things could have been handled differently. We at IAALS hope judges and attorneys are listening. These techniques are already in use in many courtrooms across the country—but not all.

We previously shared Judge Paul W. Grimm’s standard Discovery Order, which we recommend to state and federal court judges alike as a model and inspiration to manage the pretrial discovery process. Judge Grimm has made some revisions to his Order, including expanding the definition of proportionality and making reference to the possible use of Technology Assisted Review as a means to keep costs down. Download his new Order here.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently published an article about proposed legislation to change the Pennsylvania judicial selection process. IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis was interviewed in the article about the proposed legislation and the benefits of merit selection. She noted that the Pennsylvania proposal contains the front-end nominating commission process endorsed by IAALS as the O'Connor Judicial Selection Plan.