S.D.: Specialty courts continue saving money and lives

KCCR News: "An option that helps some people avoid prison time and saves the state money appears to be making progress."

University of South Dakota renames law school after receiving $12.5M donation

National Jurist: "South Dakota’s only law school is getting a new name. The University of South Dakota will now be known as USD Knudson School of Law after the school received $12.5 million."

S.D. justices take company’s side in a dispute with state’s underground storage tanks program

KELO News: "A circuit judge in a financial case correctly ruled against state government’s program for cleaning up leaks from underground storage tanks, the South Dakota Supreme Court said."

Montana Supreme Court rules Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue case closed

NBC Montana News: "The Supreme Court ruled in favor of three mothers in the Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue case."

SD legislators direct justices to take another look at parenting time

KELO News: "The South Dakota Supreme Court is considering whether to start a state commission on parenting-time guidelines."

Great Falls court officials hold Hollywood myths in contempt

Great Falls Tribune: "Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson yelling at each other over the objections of another attorney and the judge in 'A Few Good Men' might make for a dramatic movie scene, but it bears little resemblance to what goes on in a real-life courtroom."

Former South Dakota Attorney General Meierhenry dies

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "Mark Meierhenry, a former South Dakota attorney general and the patriarch of an influential legal family, died early Wednesday. He was 75."

Minnesota Supreme Court rules in favor of employment protections for unpaid interns, students

Bring Me The News: "The Minnesota Supreme Court decided Wednesday that compensation is not required for an employee to be covered under the state’s civil rights laws."

Minn.: Court in the time of COVID

Brainerd Dispatch: "When Crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan assumed his elected post 26 years ago, he did not foresee a time when nearly all of his office’s court appearances would take place in the virtual realm."

Minnesota might allow law grads to bypass bar exam

Law 360: " The Minnesota Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it may allow recent law school graduates to forgo the bar exam during the COVID-19 health emergency and said it will take public comments on the idea over the next few weeks."

S.D.: Excellence in law and friendship

KELO News: "Two longtime figures in the South Dakota law community are receiving a prestigious honor. South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson and the late Justice Steven Zinter will both be the recipients of this year’s McKusick Award."

Jensen picked to lead South Dakota supremes

Pierre Capital Journal: "Upon the planned retirement of South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson in January, Justice Steven Jensen will take the role of leading the state's highest court, officials announced on Tuesday."

USD law school fell below bar-exam threshold

KELO News: "South Dakota’s only law school was one of 10 nationwide that didn’t meet a key standard, set by a council of the American Bar Association, that 75 percent of an institution’s law graduates pass a bar exam within two years."

S.D.: COVID-19 pandemic bogs down court system

Black Hills Pioneer: "Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wheels of justice continue to turn in Lawrence County. They’re just going a bit slower than usual."

Mont.: Court says dinosaur fossils worth millions aren't minerals

NBC Montana News: "A divided Montana Supreme Court says under state law, dinosaur fossils aren't minerals. Wednesday's ruling has implications in an ongoing legal battle over the ownership of millions of dollars of fossils found on an eastern Montana ranch where the surface and mineral rights are owned by different people."

Montana Supreme Court upholds jury decision in stolen valor case

Flathead Beacon: "The Montana Supreme Court has upheld the decision of a Flathead County jury to force a Kalispell man to pay $1.7 million after he said he was a decorated U.S. Marine Corps officer in order to convince a well-known Whitefish businessman to invest in his business."

USD Law School among first to be back with face-to-face education this fall

KELO News: "The South Dakota Board of Regents has decided that universities will resume in-person classes at the start of the fall term."

Court upholds move to restore Minnesota lake's Dakota name

Indian Country Today: "A divided Minnesota Supreme Court said Wednesday a state agency has the authority to change the name of a popular lake back to its original Dakota name."

Billionaires stashing funds in South Dakota trusts

Pierre Capital Journal: "South Dakota’s unusual stature as a leader nationwide in chartering trusts has been in the national headlines in recent weeks because of a new turn in a Texas billionaire’s messy divorce."

S.D.: Juvenile justice reform movement aided by detention decline during crisis

Public News Service: "A downward trend in juvenile-detention populations during the pandemic is renewing hopes among reform advocates. The numbers are reflected in a national survey that reached out to agencies in 30 states."

Judge reverses sale of Montana oil and gas leases on public lands

Courthouse News Service: "A federal judge in Montana ruled Friday that the Bureau of Land Management failed to fulfill its National Environmental Policy Act requirements when it issued 287 oil and gas leases in eastern Montana."

SD Supreme Court oral arguments via Zoom

Pierre Capital Journal: "Traditionally, the South Dakota Supreme Court holds oral arguments - open to the public - either at its courtroom in the State Capitol, at the University of South Dakota School of Law or another public institution like a college."

State high court ruling keeps some Minnesota voter data private

MPR News: "The Minnesota Supreme Court has affirmed the position of the Minnesota Voters Alliance that all of the records in the Minnesota statewide voter registration database are publicly available data."