# American Inns of Court *Non-profit network of judges, lawyers, law professors and law students that organizes local Inns to promote ethics, skills and professionalism.* The American Inns of Court are local groups that bring together judges and lawyers and, in some Inns, law professors and law students. Their purpose is to raise the skills, ethics and professionalism of both bench and bar.[^1] Members of each Inn gather about monthly for a shared meal and for programs and discussion on those subjects.[^1] The model grew out of a movement that [[Warren E. Burger]], as Chief Justice of the United States, began in the late 1970s.[^1] A national foundation was organized in 1985 to charter local Inns. As of the cached Wikipedia revision, more than 350 Inns had been chartered and more than 25,000 members were active.[^1] The national organization gives its mission as to "perfect the quality, availability and efficiency of justice".[^2] In Minnesota, the [[Warren E. Burger American Inn of Court]] was chartered on September 20, 1989, and is affiliated with Mitchell Hamline.[^2] ## National organization ### History The movement Burger led drew on the traditional English Inns of Court as a loose model for American organizations.[^1] The validated record places Burger's adoption of the model after the 1977 Anglo-American Exchange.[^2] On Rex Lee's suggestion, a pilot program was given to A. Sherman Christensen, a senior United States district judge, who developed the idea into a workable concept.[^1] The first American Inn opened in 1980 in the Provo/Salt Lake City area of Utah. Its members included Brigham Young University law students.[^1] The validated record gives the founding date as February 2, 1980.[^2] Over the next three years, more Inns were formed in Utah, Mississippi, Hawaii, New York and Washington, D.C.[^1] In 1983, Burger set up a committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. It was to consider whether the Inn concept served the administration of justice and whether a national organization should promote and support local Inns.[^1] The committee answered both questions yes and proposed an American Inns of Court Foundation. The Judicial Conference approved its reports, endorsing both the concept and a national structure.[^1] The Foundation was formally organized in 1985 to promote and charter local Inns nationwide.[^1] ### Membership More than 25,000 people take an active part in the American Inns of Court, as of the cached revision. They include attorneys, legal scholars, law students, and state, federal and administrative judges.[^1] Members are grouped into categories, among them Masters of the Bench (judges, experienced lawyers and law professors) and Barristers.[^1] ## Local organizations Each of the more than 350 chartered Inns is organized and administered locally. The national organization offers a search tool that finds Inns by state, ZIP code, name or ID number.[^1] Most Inns center on civil and criminal litigation and draw attorneys from several specialties.[^1] Some focus on a single field, such as:[^1] - criminal practice, federal litigation or white-collar crime; - tax, administrative, bankruptcy or intellectual property law; - family law, or employment and labor law. The Inns describe themselves as distinct from fraternal orders, social clubs, continuing legal education courses, lecture series, apprenticeships and law school adjuncts, while drawing on elements of each.[^1] A typical meeting pairs a meal with a program put on by one of the Inn's pupillage teams.[^1] Each team has a few members from every membership category, and each presents one program a year. Team members also meet informally between monthly meetings.[^1] ## Specialty Inn alliances Some Inns in different places have formed alliances around a shared area of law. Examples include the Family Law Inn Alliance and the Bankruptcy Inn Alliance.[^1] The first was the Linn Inn Alliance for intellectual property law, conceived in 2007. It started with five existing IP-focused Inns and helped establish others in major cities.[^1] By 2013 it counted 21 Inns, one of them in Tokyo, Japan.[^1] ## International ties The American and English Inns have a collegial relationship but no formal or legal tie.[^1] Under a Declaration of Friendship, American members may obtain a letter of introduction to the Inns in England and Ireland. English and Irish barristers have reciprocal procedures.[^1] The Pegasus Scholarships run a six-week exchange each year. Young English barristers travel to the United States, and young American Inn members travel to London, to study the other country's legal system.[^1] The Temple Bar Scholarships offer a similar program. It is open only to American lawyers who clerked for a U.S. Court of Appeals judge or a U.S. Supreme Court justice.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - The Warren E. Burger American Inn of Court was organized by Thomas J. Lyons, Justice John Simonett and Prof. John O. Sonsteng.[^2] - Warren E. Burger, whose name the Inn bears, attended St. Paul College of Law, a predecessor of Mitchell Hamline.[^2] ### What - The Minnesota Inn is affiliated with Mitchell Hamline, formerly St. Paul College of Law.[^2] - The American Inns of Court states its mission as to "perfect the quality, availability and efficiency of justice".[^2] ### When - The first U.S. Inn was founded on February 2, 1980.[^2] - The national Foundation was organized in 1985.[^1] - The Warren E. Burger American Inn of Court was chartered on September 20, 1989.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *American Inns of Court* (revision 1377487907, retrieved 2026-10-26), CC BY-SA 4.0 — history, membership, local Inns, specialty alliances and international ties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Inns_of_Court [^2]: Minnesota wiki project, *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18), entry [63] — the Warren E. Burger American Inn of Court's charter date, organizers and affiliation; the national mission statement; the 1977 exchange; the first U.S. Inn date. This validated pack passage is marked primary-confirmed, but no allowed URL exists for it.