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Message from Our Executive Director |
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As part of our ETL Conference this year, we will be honoring Dean Martin Katz with our Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Award. During his deanship at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, he transformed the law school into a model for how schools can adapt, thrive, create, and respond to the needs of an evolving legal profession. Over the years, Dean Katz has been a trusted and indispensable advisor both to IAALS in general and specifically to
Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers. We hope you will join us in celebrating his accomplishments. Registration is now open for the full conference (September 22-24) as well as for the award dinner (September 22).
Rebecca Love Kourlis, IAALS Executive Director
July 2016
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Cases Without Counsel:
Giving a Voice to Self-Represented Litigants
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Last month, IAALS unveiled two new reports stemming from our Cases Without Counsel project. The first report captures the experiences of litigants navigating U.S. family courts without attorneys, as well as court staff and judges, and includes their personal narratives about the process. Based on those responses, the second report makes recommendations for courts and others to help better serve these litigants.
Cases Without Counsel is based on research conducted in four jurisdictions: Multnomah County, OR; Larimer County, CO; Davidson County, TN; and Franklin County, MA.
Read more.
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Family Law Attorneys Leading the Charge for Child-Focused Legal Reforms
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Stemming from our groundbreaking Family Bar Summit last fall, IAALS released a report that serves as a blueprint for attorneys to help lead change in the legal system for their clients. Our gathering of diverse, national leaders identified obstacles to justice in the realm of family law and offered solutions to reshape the divorce and separation process so it better serves the needs of children and families.
The Family Law Bar: Stewards of the System, Leaders of Change offers concrete recommendations and an action plan for improvement that specifically identifies family law attorneys as the ones to champion change—in their own jurisdictions and more broadly.
Read more.
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Chipping Away at Justice:
Attacks on Judges are Attacks on the Constitution
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Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey from 1994-2001 and member of the
Quality Judges Initiative’s O’Connor Advisory Committee, wrote a guest blog for IAALS that cautions against attacking the judiciary and lashing out at judges for decisions with which we do not agree.
“Without an independent judiciary, we have just one more political entity, subject to the control of the majority, untethered from the Rule of Law, and susceptible to bullying," she says. "If we undermine the independence of the judiciary, we are eroding the very foundation on which this country was built.”
Read more.
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Gavel Gap Study Highlights Lack of Diversity on State Courts; IAALS Offers Solutions
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A recent study by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is shedding new light on the demographics of state judiciaries across the country. The Gavel Gap project gives each state a grade from “A” to “F” based on the relationship between the diversity of the bench and the diversity of the state’s population.
Malia Reddick, Manager of the
Quality Judges Initiative, spoke with the Denver Business Journal about the findings in Colorado and nationally, and she offered solutions for how states, bar associations, and law schools can help address the problem.
Read more.
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Ten Years of IAALS: Collaboration to Drive the Future of Legal Education Dean Deanell Reece Tacha of the Pepperdine School of Law wrote a guest blog for IAALS that praises
Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers as a critical forum for deans, practitioners, judges, faculty, and legal employers to interact together and with others interested in and committed to the future of legal education. Read more.
Quality Judges Award Honors Best of JPE Process
IAALS presented Joanne C. Slotnik, Former Executive Director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, with the inaugural Quality Judges Award in recognition of her contributions to preserving judicial accountability and impartiality. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was on hand for the Phoenix event and award presentation. Read more.
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