DENVER, COLO. - On October 22, Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine M. Durham will be honored with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s (IAALS) 2008 Transparent Courthouse™ Award.
In selecting Chief Justice Durham as its award recipient, IAALS sited her nearly three decade tenure on the Utah Supreme Court and her track record of building a more responsive and effective court system.
“From her pioneering work to push for progressive judicial education to more recent efforts to develop innovative approaches to caseflow management, Chief Justice Durham’s leadership has brought significant reform to Utah and provided a model for the rest of the nation,” said IAALS Executive Director and former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis.
Each year the Transparent Courthouse™ Award Dinner brings together leaders of the judicial, legal and business communities from Colorado and throughout the United States in honoring an individual, organization or court that is working to improve the United States legal system. In 2007, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor received the inaugural award.
The evening will also feature remarks from New York Times Editorial Board Member Dorothy Samuels. Samuels – an author and former corporate lawyer – has been a member of The Times editorial board since 1984, covering legal and social policy issues.
The University of Denver’s Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) is a national, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the process and culture of the civil justice system. IAALS provides principled leadership and develops credible, innovative solutions that focus the legal system on the needs of its users.