CNN's Bill Mears recently interviewed IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis about the challenges facing civil courts, including resource constraints, politicization and inaccessibility.
Kourlis:
The courts are overloaded, they're bogged… MORE
The March 2012 Republican primary could determine who the next chief justice will be. Three Republicans are vying for the seat, but no Democratic challengers have emerged.
Randall Shepard, currently the longest-serving state chief justice, announced his intention to retire as of March 2012. The judicial nominating commission will screen applicants to fill the supreme court vacancy and send three names to Governor… MORE
Forrest (“Woody”) Mosten is internationally recognized as the “Father of Unbundling” for his pioneering work in Limited Scope Representation to provide affordable and understandable legal services to the underserved members of our society. He is in… MORE
Diversity may be a factor in filling the vacancy. Indiana is one of only three states with no women justices, and only one justice of color currently serves on the court.
The court of appeals rejected on standing grounds a challenge to the 2010 judicial retention ballot, an election that ended with the defeat of all three supreme court justices standing for retention. The challenge was brought by three attorneys and… MORE
A Republican candidate for governor voiced his support for commission-based appointment of the state’s judges. According to Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, there is too much “horse-trading” in the current system, in which the legislature chooses… MORE
Seven candidates for six seats on Luzerne County’s court of common pleas spent $1.1 million on their campaigns. The losing candidate spent the least of the seven candidates.
As a result of the standoff between Governor Christie and Democratic leaders in the legislature, one-fourth of the judgeships on the Essex County Superior Court are vacant. The governor is said to be refusing to fill these seats because the senate… MORE
A trial court judge was removed from hearing all asbestos cases after accepting $30,000 in campaign contributions from attorneys whose firms had cases on the judge’s asbestos docket.