Recommended Tools for Evaluating Appellate Judges
Recognizing that appellate Judicial Performance Evaluation (JPE) programs have largely been patterned after programs for trial judges, IAALS is pleased to offer recommendations and tools for evaluating the performance of appellate judges that are tailored to those judges’ unique role and responsibilities.
These recommended tools are the product of two years’ work, which included a national conference that brought together stakeholders from around the country; an expert task force of appellate judges, JPE program coordinators, and legal academics; focus groups with appellate judges and attorneys; and cognitive interviews of potential respondents to JPE surveys.
Our model surveys, in particular, are flexible and adaptable to a variety of evaluation programs—in terms of the purposes for conducting the evaluation, the identity of the evaluating entity, and the available budget.