Beginning January 1, 2008, a plan participant may rollover directly from an “eligible retirement plan” account to a Roth IRA, subject to the existing limitation on Roth IRA rollovers. An eligible retirement plan includes a qualified plan, a 403(b) plan, and a governmental 457(b) plan. This law change was part of the Pension Protection Act.   Remember- it is a taxable event, any amount rolled into the Roth IRA account will be counted as income. 

Last year you were required to establish the traditional IRA first and then "convert" into the Roth IRA.

Make sure to consult your tax advisor and IRA custodian on this new regulation. 

Look at IRS publication 590 for more on this topic.