American Judicature Society dissolving after 101 years

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The American Judicature Society, an organization formed in 1913 to promote a fair justice system, announced Tuesday that it will be shutting down amid challenging times for nonprofits.

The board of directors voted Sept. 26 to dissolve the organization based in Nashville, Tennessee.

“The American Judicature Society has fought to improve and preserve the fairness, impartiality, and effectiveness of our justice system for 101 years as a member-based entity.  However, in the last several years, the membership model has become more challenging for many nonprofit organizations around the country, including AJS.  At the same time, new nonprofit entities with organizational and financial structures more suited to the times have joined AJS in the fight,” AJS President Tom Leighton said.

The board decided instead of operating on a limited scale and duplicating the work of other entities, it will transfer its Center for Judicial Ethics to the National Center for State Courts. The two groups entered into a memorandum of understanding. The NCSC was created as an independent, nonprofit court improvement organization at the urging of U.S. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger.

AJS is still looking for new homes for its publication, Judicature, and its online resource, “Judicial Selection in the States.”

Several Indiana attorneys and judges have served on the AJS board of directors over the years, including U.S. Judge Sarah Evans Barger, Lake Circuit Judge Lorenzo Arredondo, and John R. Carr III. Tippecanoe Superior Judge Gregory Donat and Faegre Baker Daniels LLP attorney Monica Fennell currently serve on the AJS’s National Advisory Council.

 

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