IAALS Meeting Highlights Experiences of Self-Represented Litigants

News and Updates
On August 20 and 21, the multidisciplinary Honoring Families Initiative (HFI) Advisory Committee convened in Denver. The meeting agenda included in-depth discussion of preliminary data collected over the last several months as part of… MORE

Collaboration Will Be Key to Change in Legal Education and the Profession

News and Updates
Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Director Alli Gerkman was invited to speak on “The Changing Legal Landscape” at the opening plenary session for the National Conference of Bar Presidents in July. In a prepared presentation (below), she said that… MORE

IAALS and Justice O’Connor: How Governors Should Fill Interim Court Vacancies

News and Updates
Are you a governor of a state that elects supreme court justices? You may be hearing from us. The Quality Judges Initiative at IAALS, along with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and other members of our advisory committee, has been reaching out to… MORE

Federal Judicial Nominations Take an Excessive Recess

News and Updates
When the Senate went into recess in August it was on pace to set a new record for fewest judicial confirmations within the final two years of a presidential term, a level not seen since the Eisenhower administration. Russell Wheeler, IAALS Board… MORE

Help Centers Give Self-Represented Litigants a Place to Turn in Federal Court

News and Updates
Navigating federal court without an attorney, self-represented (pro se) litigants are often lost “in a maze of procedural rules and arcane terminology,” regardless of the strength of their case. However, starting this past March, low-income self-… MORE

Attorney Obligations in the Face of Rapidly Changing Technology

News and Updates
The California State Bar recently issued a final opinion weighing in on the question of an attorney’s ethical duties in handling the discovery of electronically stored information. In its Formal Opinion No. 2015-193, the State Bar of California… MORE

Smiling Selfie a Sign of Co-Parenting Commitment

News and Updates
Not all divorces are ugly. Shannon and Chris Neuman, a Canadian couple, recently finalized their divorce in Calgary, Alberta. The final consummation of their divorce: a selfie outside the courthouse.  The ex-couple’s selfie is a celebration of… MORE

Pope Francis Reduces Bureaucracy for Annulments

News and Updates
“Complicated,” “costly,” and “unobtainable” are words that Pope Francis wishes to eliminate from the common description of marriage annulments within the Catholic Church. The pope has issued a new law that sets out a number of changes designed to “… MORE

New Ohio Website Seeks to Educate Judicial Voters

News and Updates
With the leadership of Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a coalition of groups in Ohio has launched a new website—Judicial Votes Count—to better educate voters in judicial elections. The site offers information about the structure of the Ohio court… MORE

How Are Judges Chosen? New Resource Gives State-by-State Breakdown

News and Updates
It is no surprise that there is much confusion around how judges get to be judges in the United States. No two states use the same method to select and retain their judges, and even in individual states, the method may vary by the level of court and… MORE