Civil Justice Initiative

The National Center for State Courts has released its final evaluation of Utah’s significant statewide changes to the rules governing disclosures and discovery, implemented in November 2011. The rule changes incorporate proportionality as a key principle governing the scope of discovery.

The Conference of Chief Justices has established a new committee that will evaluate civil justice improvement efforts around the country and develop guidelines and best practices for civil litigation, as well as case-flow management. The National Center for State Courts has also undertaken a research project to inform the committee's work. IAALS looks forward to working alongside NCSC to support the efforts of the committee.

For those who have been awaiting empirical analysis from the pilot project and rules reform experimentation that has been going on around the country, there are two new significant reports from the earliest of the projects—from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Both reports provide helpful insights into state pilot project efforts to address the increasing burden and cost of civil pretrial discovery.