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Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative 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 …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern “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 …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative 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 …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern 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 …

Brittany K.T. Kauffman CEO 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 …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern 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 …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern 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 …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern In a  recent article in the California Bar Journal , Judge Mark A. Juhas of the Los Angeles County Superior Court described the numerous benefits that unbundled legal services and limited scope representation provide those …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern In a  recent article published by the Guardian , procedural justice is highlighted as a simple idea that could transform our legal system. The concept has been around for almost half a century and promotes a different style of …

Malia Reddick Former Manager, Quality Judges Initiative 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 …

Robert P. Thompson Former Director of Communications & Marketing 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 …

Natalie Anne Knowlton Advisor on Regulatory Innovation 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 …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern The  National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) in Canada continues to build upon the important initial research conducted by Dr. Julie Macfarlane between 2011 and 2013. Although the original study is over, the group …

Caitlin Anderson Former Legal Assistant On the occasion of his retirement, John Lande , now Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law and ETL Fellow , collected his advice to law students and lawyers in an essay entitled “ My Last …

Brittany K.T. Kauffman CEO As of July 1, 2015, Colorado has adopted new amendments to its rules of civil procedure with the goal of achieving a more accessible and efficient road to justice. The amended rules seek to increase the involvement of judges in …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern Washington's inaugural class of  limited license legal technicians (LLLTs)  have taken their initial test to become the first of their kind. Seven of the nine who took the state's LLLT exam passed and now face the next steps …

Brittany K.T. Kauffman CEO The Duke Law Center for Judicial Studies has issued a call for public comment on its Guidelines and Suggested Practices for Implementing the 2015 Discovery Amendments to Achieve Proportionality . The Guidelines have their …

Natalie Anne Knowlton Advisor on Regulatory Innovation A robust discussion continues in the United States about the need to improve the delivery of legal services. During the American Bar Association’s (ABA) National Summit on Innovation in Legal …

Robert P. Thompson Former Director of Communications & Marketing Can the 20th Century model of legal services delivery rise to the challenges and opportunities created by changes in society and the legal industry? And, can clients get the access to …

Hunter Metcalf IAALS Intern Family court is often the only experience that people will have with the judicial process, through divorce, separation, and parental responsibility/custody matters. Unfortunately, even though family court judges are responsible …