Gavel Grab

A new Web site launched by the American Bar Association is aimed at helping the news media cover important cases in the nation’s appellate courts at a time the news industry is shrinking.

Media Alerts on Federal Courts of Appeals, as the Web site is known, will feature cases selected and summarized by these cooperating law schools, according to The Blog of Legal Times: Temple University Beasley School of Law, University of Texas School of Law, University of San Diego School of Law and University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

Initially, the Web site will cover the 3rd, 5th, and 9th Circuits, with expanded coverage to include the remaining circuits later.

“The case information not only serves a practical need, it also promotes transparency and public access, which go hand in hand with judicial accountability and judicial independence,” said a founder of the project, Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the 9th Circuit. “Greater access to and understanding of the judicial process fosters public confidence in our judicial system.”

You can learn more about the Web site from this ABA news release.