|
|
Message from Our Executive Director |
|
|
In my travels around the country, and in work that we are beginning to do in connection with an online portal project, it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that the landscape for the American legal system is shifting. We at IAALS intend to be on the leading edge of that change, with two goals firmly in mind: a legal system that serves our citizens and is structured around their needs, and a legal system that provides procedural fairness at every turn. Those two principles must serve as the guiding lights—whether wo/man or machine is at the helm.
Rebecca Love Kourlis, IAALS Executive Director
November 2016
|
|
|
|
Know Your Judges,
Vote Your Judges
|
|
|
This election year, supreme court justices are on the ballot in 32 states, so chances are they’re on the ballot in
your state. Yet, voter participation in judicial elections is notoriously low. The biggest reason for this is a lack of meaningful information about judges and judicial candidates.
Malia Reddick, Manager of our
Quality Judges Initiative, has pulled together the available resources for voters about their state judges, including states that have official, apolitical judicial performance evaluations; states where bar associations conduct polls about judges on the ballot; and states where civic organizations fill the void.
Read more.
|
|
|
|
|
Judges Receive Helpful Feedback from Civil Attorneys and Corporate Counsel
|
|
|
Chief Judge Carlos Samour, Jr., of Colorado’s 18th Judicial District Court wrote a guest blog for IAALS after attending our Law Firm Council and Business Leadership Network joint meeting in October. He noted the candor of the participants and the importance of these opportunities to share ideas and constructive feedback:
“An open dialogue between the bench and the bar is a healthy first step in our quest for a just, speedy, and cost-effective civil justice system.”
Read more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Closing the Gap Between Thinking Like a Lawyer and Being One
|
|
|
In a recent blog post, Alli Gerkman, Director of
Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers, reflects on the last five years of work to align legal education with the needs of an evolving profession—as well as the future of the initiative.
In 2011, ETL sought to provide a forum for innovative legal educators to develop and champion improved models of legal education. Today, we've achieved that goal and grown our network to include legal employers and professionals.
Together, we must harness information from Foundations for Practice to close the gap between school and career, between credentials and capabilities, between thinking like a lawyer and becoming one.
Read more.
|
|
|
|
|
Education and Assistance Available to Support State Civil Justice Reform
|
|
|
In July, the Conference of Chief Justices Civil Justices endorsed new recommendations and issued a call to action to the state courts to improve our civil justice system. With support from the State Justice Institute, NCSC and IAALS will collaborate over the next three years to support implementation of these recommendations around the country, including providing education, technical assistance, and practical tools to assist state and local courts in answering the call for implementation. The Request for Technical Assistance form is now available.
We look forward to working with state courts leaders around the country on implementation of the recommendations.
Read more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reflections on the ETL Conference: A Student Perspective
IAALS intern and second-year law student Mark Staines attended the ETL Conference in September and shares his insights in a recent blog post. Attending the conference "felt a little bit like eavesdropping on my parents as they discussed what my brothers and I would be getting for Christmas," he says, and he gives advice for fellow students to maximize their strengths and show value to legal employers. Read more.
Low-Income Clients Have New Online Pro Bono Resource
The American Bar Association recently launched a free, new resource for income-eligible users with civil law-related questions. The virtual legal advice clinic—ABAFreeLegalAnswers.org—is an online version of the walk-in advice clinic model and connects clients with brief but case-specific advice from a pro bono attorney. Read more.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|