May 24, 2018
The Young Lawyer Editorial Board of The American Lawyer recently called out a growing disconnect between the skills and training law students are receiving and the tasks new lawyers are asked to complete in practice. For example, new lawyers today are often asked to manage both teams and deadline schedules, and also to take the lead on important documents and matters early in their careers. However, today’s typical law school curriculum does not always cover all these important areas.
May 17, 2018
Denmark has been known for allowing quick access to many official documents and services online, including $60 online divorces within a week. But starting next year, Danish couples with kids who want to get a divorce will have to undergo a three-month “reflection period” with free counseling before they can officially divorce. Couples without children and couples where abuse is present can still opt for the faster divorce process.
May 15, 2018
The Colorado Supreme Court’s Attorney Regulation Counsel recently released statistics on the state’s legal employment, which revealed an interesting trend. According to the Denver Business Journal, the study found that fewer than half of the 1,473 active female attorneys younger than 30 years old are working in law firms of any size, and only 20 percent of female attorneys in that age range went to work for big law firms. At the same time, law school classes around the country are fairly equally divided between male and female students, on average.
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Zachary Willis
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Heather Buchanan
May 11, 2018
IAALS’ own Natalie Knowlton was recently interviewed for a Chicago Tribune advice column for self-represented litigants about the problems they face and the tools available that can help increase access to justice for those navigating the legal system without a lawyer.
Expert Opinion
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Zachariah DeMeola
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Logan Cornett
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Alli Gerkman
May 9, 2018
In the last blog, we explained that the 77 foundations survey respondents identified as being necessary for new lawyers in the short term are largely consistent and definitive across respondents. Still, there were a few differences that highlight foundations some practice settings emphasize over others. Similarly, when we focused on private practice, we discovered only slight variations among different law firm sizes. In this blog, we explore the foundations that make up the whole lawyer for each private practice firm size category, and the differences as compared with one another and the whole lawyer overall.
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Zachary Willis
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Heather Buchanan
May 4, 2018
Changes in recent years to California’s budget, priorities, and policies have resulted in a focus on criminal over civil matters. In the yearly State of the Judiciary address, however, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye highlighted some of the ways California is planning to improve access to justice in its courts. Among them: better meeting the needs of self-represented litigants.
Press Release
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Carolyn A. Tyler
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Zachary Willis
May 1, 2018
America’s civil justice system is failing to deliver on the promise of a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution in every case. However, by taking charge of cases from their beginning to end, courts have the power to change that. IAALS’ latest report, Redefining Case Management, offers strategies to help the courts take charge of the delivery of justice in response to the changing landscape in our courts.
Expert Opinion
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Zachariah DeMeola
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Logan Cornett
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Alli Gerkman
April 30, 2018
In our previous blog, we explained that the 77 foundations survey respondents identified as being necessary for new lawyers immediately upon graduation from law school are consistent and definitive throughout the practice of law. The similarities we saw in responses across demographics, firm sizes, and practice-specific characteristics suggest that the findings can be employed with confidence by law schools, the profession, employers, and others to facilitate the development of crucial foundations needed by lawyers right out of law school. Nonetheless, there were a few notable practically significant differences that arose among the various practice settings we studied.
April 30, 2018
In Colorado, April 19, 2018, will forever be known as “The Conference of Chief Justices Day” thanks to an official proclamation by Governor John Hickenlooper. The proclamation was delivered at IAALS’ annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner by Doug Scrivner, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Denver and IAALS Board of Advisors Member. The dinner centered around the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and honored and celebrated their leadership and work to improve America’s civil and family courts. The issue of declining confidence in the courts was the subject of another evening highlight: a fireside chat with several attending Chief Justices.
April 26, 2018
Greg and I have known one another for over thirty years. He was a new associate at Gibson Dunn during a period in my career when I was working with Gibson Dunn, primarily on water and oil and gas matters. Back then, Greg was green, and I was just a little less so. But, we overlapped for only a short time. I next encountered Greg primarily through his mother, who lived at the time in our neighborhood and rode her bike everywhere. We would see one another at the grocery store or on the street, and she would tell me about Greg’s career and about her other children as well. The Kerwin family is an extraordinary family.
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Brittany Kauffman
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Heather Buchanan
April 12, 2018
It is inspiring to watch as more and more states begin to address access to justice issues within their own courts. Arizona has been a leader in taking up the Call to Action from the Conference of Chief Justices and is in the process of implementing reforms. Arizona’s Civil Justice Reform Committee issued its report and recommendations, A Call to Reform: The Committee on Civil Justice Reform’s Report to the Arizona Judicial Council, in October 2016. The Supreme Court reviewed those recommendations and issued a series of rule changes that will take effect July 1, 2018.
Guest Blog
April 11, 2018
At the end of last year, I posed the question: “was 2017 a year of change?” To which I answered, “yes . . . but not enough.” I challenged the legal industry in 2018 to make goals together and support one another so we can become more client-focused, affordable and truly show the value our legal system provides. Several have accepted the challenge, including an entity that’s been a leader in advancing the legal system since its inception: IAALS. One example of their collaborative leadership was co-hosting the “Better Access through Unbundling” conference with the ABA late last year, at which I had the pleasure of being a panelist.