Commission Confirms Three Calif. State Appeals Judges

Posted on March 1, 2017June 28, 2018 by

01 Mar

Three California State Appellate judges were appointed to the bench by Gov. Jerry Brown and confirmed February 9th. San Diego Superior Court Judge Willilam Dato and Riverside County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields were approved to and are now on the Fourth District Court of Appeals. Judge Kathleen Meehan of Fresno County Superior Court was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeals. Read more here from The Recorder.

Making Courts More Accessible

Posted on February 14, 2017June 28, 2018 by

Former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Alex Kozinski has been a long-time advocate for court room transparency and has been a behind efforts to get court audio and video available online.

He recently did an interview with the recorder on this topic.

How Did California Schools Fare on the Bar Exam?

Posted on December 16, 2016June 28, 2018 by

16 Dec

Every year recent law school graduates head out into the world, but first they must pass the California Bar Exam. According to The Recorder, only five of 21 California law schools accredited by the American Bar Association had at least 75% of their graduates pass the Bar Exam in July. This is a benchmark rate – not meeting it could spell trouble for law schools.

The overall pass rate of this summer’s exam was actually the lowest for a July sitting in 32 years.

Unfortunately, only 43% of California Bar exam takers passed. Exam takers who attended an ABA accredited school did better as a group with 62% passing the exam. Test takers from UC Irvine, UCLA, Stanford University, USC and UC Berkeley were the only group that met the 75% passage benchmark.

Read the full story here.