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Diane M. Johnsen Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One 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 …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative Since its founding in 2001, Justice at Stake was a national leader in the movement to promote fair and impartial courts and increase judicial diversity. But last month, the organization’s leaders …

Rebecca Love Kourlis Founding Executive Director, IAALS I spent two weeks in Australia in May, meeting Australian judges, lawyers, law professors, deans, and legal service providers. I spoke at a conference dedicated to examining the role of empirical …

Heather Buchanan Former IAALS Intern In a recent  Wyoming Lawyer   article , former Judicial Nominating Commissioner Jeremy Michaels shared his observations from his tenure on the Commission and addressed some of the myths that might keep attorneys from …

Carolyn A. Tyler Former Director of Communications IAALS is expanding: both in terms of our capacity for impact and in the literal expansion of our ranks. Specifically, we are delighted to announce that Managers Nathaniel Baca and Zack DeMeola and …

Brittany Kauffman CEO This month the Northern District of Illinois launched a three-year pilot project, known as the  Mandatory Initial Discovery Pilot Project (MIDP) . The pilot project requires robust mandatory initial discovery with the goal of …

Alli Gerkman Former Senior Director In January, I had the opportunity to present the results of IAALS’ Foundations for Practice study at the Association of American Law Schools’ Annual Meeting as part of the President’s Program. As always, I began my talk …

Carolyn A. Tyler Former Director of Communications For as long as she can remember, capital campaigns, strategic planning, and philanthropy were the topics of dinner table conversion for Carol Miller’s family. It’s as if the “family business” was to serve …

Heather Buchanan Former IAALS Intern In an article published earlier this month, Law Week Colorado  covered the new roadmap for civil justice reform developed by IAALS and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). The two organizations announced  their …

Rebecca Love Kourlis Founding Executive Director, IAALS IAALS simply would not be what it is without the support of our partners and friends. They are essential to our efforts and hail from a wide range of backgrounds, viewpoints, and sectors. Every month …

Dona Playton Associate Professor and Director, Family and Child Legal Advocacy Clinic, University of Wyoming College of Law Former Director, Honoring Families Initiative The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently approved a rule allowing a lawyer-mediator to …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative This week, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed legislation to reauthorize and restructure the state’s judicial performance evaluation (JPE) program. Colorado was one of the first states in the …

Carolyn A. Tyler Former Director of Communications Zachary Willis Director of Communications Interoperability Standards for Litigant Portal in Development with OASIS In three quarters of all civil cases, at least one party is going to court without an …

Rebecca Love Kourlis Founding Executive Director, IAALS IAALS simply would not be what it is without the support of our partners and friends. They are essential to our efforts and hail from a wide range of backgrounds, viewpoints, and sectors. Every month …

Carolyn A. Tyler Former Director of Communications Recommendations by Conference of Chief Justices Advance with Release of New Roadmap and Demonstration Pilots The effort to create a 21st Century system of justice is advancing. Today, IAALS , the …

Carolyn A. Tyler Former Director of Communications Our O’Connor Advisory Committee (OAC) members are sounding the alarm about a growing and concerning pattern: state lawmakers all but declaring war on our courts. In defense of America’s system of checks …

Dona Playton Associate Professor and Director, Family and Child Legal Advocacy Clinic, University of Wyoming College of Law Former Director, Honoring Families Initiative Washington State’s innovative Limited License Legal Technicians (LLLT) program was …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative This month, the Virginia Supreme Court begin pilot testing a performance evaluation program for its appellate judges. Among the sources of guidance to which the court looked in developing the pilot …

Alli Gerkman Former Senior Director For years, there is one piece of advice I give prospective law students that hasn’t changed: take time off before you go to law school. Work, travel, volunteer. Do something that isn’t school. Experience the world, …

Mark Staines IAALS Intern When Edgar Barraza came to the United States as an 11-year-old undocumented immigrant in 1998 the odds seemed stacked against him. He spoke little English, his family had to work hard for everything they had, and state and …