News & Updates

In What America Can Learn From Germany’s Justice System, James Maxeiner urges us to compare America’s civil justice system to its German counterpart for examples of how the civil justice system can be improved. Maxeiner highlights five ways in which…

Governor Christie nominated a sitting superior court judge, and former federal and state prosecutor, to the supreme court. In recent months, two Christie nominees have been rejected by the senate judiciary committee. Christie’s only other supreme court nominee waited one year before being confirmed by the legislature.

Though plaintiff attorneys and their firms typically back Democratic judicial candidates, Republican chief justice candidate Roy Moore has received $55,000 from these groups. The supreme court is composed of nine Republicans, and Moore’s is the only race of five on the ballot where there is a Democratic opponent.

The July 2012 edition of Selection Snapshots is now available.

The June 2012 edition of the Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers newsletter is now available. Sign up for this and other IAALS newsletters here.

A group known as Defend Justice from Politics formed to support the three justices up for retention in November.

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…

Citing the “Rule of Necessity” and the fact that he did not witness one of the events that gave rise to the case, Justice Patrick Crooks declined to recuse himself from the discipline case involving Justice David Prosser. Prosser and Justice Patience Roggensack have recused themselves, and Prosser requested that his other colleagues do so as well.

The state election commission voted to postpone consideration of whether the “rescue funds” provision of the public financing pilot program for supreme court candidates survived a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar provision in Arizona’s program, reasoning that the provision has not yet come into play in this year’s races.

A Democratic Party committee chose a state senator to run against Justice Terrence O’Donnell in November, following the previous candidate’s withdrawal from the race in April due to lack of campaign funds.

The judicial council forwarded to Governor Parnell the names of two potential appointees for the supreme court vacancy created by Justice Morgan Christen’s move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The governor must appoint one of the two within 45 days. In his 16 judicial appointments to date, the governor has favored individuals who have conservative or traditional Christian backgrounds.

The lone Democrat on the supreme court defended her colleagues against attacks from her Republican challenger. Justice Yvette McGee Brown rejected the claim that the justice legislate from the bench and described herself as proud to serve on the court.

The Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program has released its Final Report on Phase Two. The Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program originated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois as a response to widespread discussion about the rising burden and cost of electronic discovery. The effort was inspired by the ACTL Task Force and IAALS Final Report, as well as The Sedona Conference® Principles.

The newly-formed Oklahoma Civil Justice Council is developing a judicial rating system that will rate court of civil appeals and supreme court judges on a scale of zero to 100, on the basis of their support for expanding business liabilities. The Council and its rating system are being backed by the State Chamber of Oklahoma and local Chamber affiliates. 

The American Bar Association (ABA) weighed in on the federal judicial nominations that are languishing in the U.S. Senate. On June 20, ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III sent a letter on behalf of the ABA to Senate Majority and Minority Leaders expressing concern over judicial vacancies and urging the Senate to vote on those pending appellate court nominees who have strong bipartisan support. 

The judicial selection commission sponsored by Senators Inouye and Akaka submitted to the senators a list of three candidates for an upcoming vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. The vacancy is due to Judge David Ezra taking senior status on June 27.

Governor Abercrombie appointed Circuit Court Judge Richard Pollack to the supreme court. Pollack was one of five nominees submitted by the judicial selection commission. This was Governor Abercrombie’s second appointment to the supreme court of his eighteen-month tenure, and he may have the opportunity to fill a third seat on the five-member court.

Professor Michael Madison’s “goal is to inspire students to learn, and to have the confidence to learn, long after they have left [his] classroom.” He adopts a “writing to learn” pedagogy in his copyright course as practice leads to effective learning.

Two of the three supreme court justices up for reelection face challengers in the Republican primary. One justice’s opponent is running to “expose the corrosive influence of big business on the court,” while the other justice’s opponents “want to restore integrity to the court.” The third justice up for reelection faces a Democratic challenger in the general election.

When Michael Madison left Silicon Valley to begin teaching law, he thought a lot about how to teach judgment. Today, he offers an upper level copyright law course that teaches students judgment, along with legal analysis, factual investigation and analysis, confidence to express an opinion regarding what a client should do (or not), and the ability to express all of those things in writing.