Courts & Judiciary

House-passed legislation would preempt state medical liability laws

The House narrowly passed an ABA-opposed bill last month that would preempt state laws to impose caps of $250,000 on non-economic damages and place limits on contingency fees that lawyers can charge in medical liability cases. In a letter to House leadership prior to the June 28 vote, ABA Governmental Affairs Director Thomas M. Susman emphasized that the authority to determine medical liability law has rested with the states for over 200 years.

When Research Challenges Policy and Practice: Toward a New Understanding of Mental Health Courts

Carol Fisler

Although a growing body of research on mental health courts shows consistent and promising results across a number of courts, it also squarely challenges the logic of the mental health court model. What are the implications for the design and operations of mental health courts?

Ninth Circuit

The ABA reiterated its opposition to splitting the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in testimony submitted for a field hearing held Aug. 24 in Phoenix, Arizona, by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Bridging the Great Divide: (Inn)formal Communication Between Judges and Lawyers

In a compilation of interviews of states and federal judges, Dunn creates a conversation about the importance of informal communication between judges and lawyers. Each contributor has been a member of a local American Inn of Court and shares insights on how to encourage communication to promote the functioning of the legal profession.