Announcements

Family court judges make significant decisions affecting our nation's families, yet these judges are often undervalued—even by their peers on the bench. And, there is insufficient acknowledgement of the broad expertise required to do the job well. A new IAALS publication aims to change this by drawing attention to the special knowledge, qualities, and skills that these judges need to be successful—and hopefully reprioritizing and revaluing their role in the legal system.

IAALS is pleased to announce the release of our final evaluation results for the Colorado Civil Access Pilot Project (CAPP), the state's experiment with new court procedures. As a whole, CAPP has succeeded in achieving many of its intended effects and the evaluation provides a rich source of information for rulemakers and decision-makers around the country.

Over the last seven years, we have focused much of our time and effort on ways to improve the effectiveness of discovery, due in large part to the expanding world of electronically stored information. In our new report, we review the laws in the United States and other countries and provide examples of, and analogies to, various cost allocation models. One of the key takeaways is the importance of proportionality.

We are pleased to announce the release of a new report on the judicial nominating commissions used to select supreme court justices in 30 states and Washington, D.C. With Choosing Judges, we examine why judicial nominating commissions are established in the first place, how their structure and operation differ across the nation, and what some of the best practices might be in building public trust in the process.

In recent years, I have been distressed to see persistent efforts in some states to politicize the bench and the role of our judges. Working closely with IAALS and its Quality Judges Initiative, we have collaborated to promote processes for selecting and retaining state judges that inspire public trust in our courts and the integrity of their decisions. Today, I am pleased to share with you the O’Connor Judicial Selection Plan—our recommendations for protecting and strengthening the courts.

IAALS warmly welcomes and honors the founding members of its newly formed Law Firm Council. The LFC was formed in 2013 to provide a group of national firms who are invested intellectually and financially in IAALS’ mission with an opportunity to have a voice in our work. LFC members are an essential resource to IAALS as we seek to identify issues within the American legal system and forge practical solutions to them.

IAALS announces a first-of-its-kind national project to examine the growing trend of American families who represent themselves in family court. The project will include a study of self-represented litigants to discover how family courts can help them navigate the justice system to achieve fair outcomes. Study results will be used to develop recommendations for ways that state courts can meet the needs of those without an attorney.

A national conversation is ongoing about the future of our civil justice system, and research is being conducted on the litigation process by a number of individuals and organizations. To help make sense of the latest research and to bring it down to a manageable size, we have created a new report that synthesizes the relevant empirical research conducted by a variety of organizations and individuals.

On June 11, 2014, IAALS and the NJC will co-host a webcast for state court judges at no cost. This webcast will enable judges to: adjudicate disputes involving ESI, including the identification, preservation, search, review, production, and admission of ESI; apply ESI terminology such as metadata and native format correctly; and use resources developed by IAALS to assist state court judges in effectively handling e-discovery.

From coast to coast and everywhere in between, we have collected stories from real people who share IAALS' passion for and dedication to a legal system that is accessible, trustworthy, relevant, and responsive. Their personal accounts of impact are woven throughout our 2013 Annual Report along with a detailed account of our accomplishments in the past year, which set the stage for an ambitious future slate of projects.