• Image of Zachariah DeMeola
    Zachariah DeMeola
  • Image of Natalie Anne Knowlton
    Natalie Anne Knowlton
March 18, 2020
On February 13, the Arizona Task Force on the Delivery of Legal Services filed a petition with the Arizona Supreme Court to eliminate Ethical Rule 5.4. Instead, the petition requests that the court adopt a framework for regulating what’s known as an alternative business structure.
  • Image of Brooke Meyer
    Brooke Meyer
March 16, 2020
In January 2019, IAALS published recommendations for improving dispositive motions practice in state and federal courts, calling for a new paradigm for motion practice in the United States. Now, judges around the country are answering the call.
  • Image of Andrew Arruda
    Andrew Arruda
March 13, 2020
On Thursday, March 12, the State Bar of California Trustees voted to postpone passing the motion to explore the development of a regulatory sandbox to May. In my eyes, every day, hour, or minute of delay leads to bad legal outcomes for Californians. Our legal system is in crisis. Now, as a community, we have to turn our kinetic access-to-justice energy into focused action.
  • Image of Maddie Hosack
    Maddie Hosack
March 13, 2020
​As the number of cases of COVID-19 in the United States rises, both state and federal courts are preparing for how they will (or won’t) continue operating should more people quarantine and many other functions of public life temporarily shut down.
  • Image of Scott Bales
    Scott Bales
March 12, 2020
People look to our legal system for help in matters that affect their rights, their families, their businesses, and the most intimate aspects of their lives. But, for too long and for too many, the courthouse doors seem closed—and justice out of reach. IAALS is changing that. We are proud to present you with our 2019 Annual Report, which highlights our work and accomplishments toward ensuring that everyone has access to justice we can believe in.
  • Image of Stacy Butler
    Stacy Rupprecht Jane
March 11, 2020
From my perspective as the director of a law school innovation lab, legal education is disengaged from the regulatory reform effort: only a handful of legal academics have chimed in on regulatory reform or been involved in task force efforts. But legal education should join the conversation and prepare for the changes ahead, for several reasons.
  • head shot photo of Michael Houlberg
    Michael Houlberg
March 6, 2020
In today’s increasingly busy and connected world, electronic notifications play a significant role in keeping us up to date. One would expect that due to the serious nature of court proceedings that the courts would be up-to-date with messaging or other communication capabilities, but unfortunately that is not the case. However, many courts are beginning to change that reality.
  • Image of Brittany Kauffman
    Brittany Kauffman
  • head shot photo of Michael Houlberg
    Michael Houlberg
March 2, 2020
To address the challenges posed by the rising number of debt collection cases in our state courts—including high rates of self-represented litigants and default judgments—IAALS and the National Center for State Courts have released a new white paper that presents a model approach to reform in these cases.
  • Image of Maddie Hosack
    Maddie Hosack
February 28, 2020
On February 26, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law had the privilege of hosting Patricia Refo, President-elect of the American Bar Association, for a talk and Q&A regarding the re-regulation of legal services. Refo gave an engaging talk that explored how re-regulation could address the access to justice gap, as well as the questions the legal profession must address in the wake of innovation.
  • Image of Maddie Hosack
    Maddie Hosack
February 26, 2020
The critically acclaimed Netflix movie depicts a couple who decides to end their marriage. Although dramatized, the movie portrays several realities of the traditional divorce process—and highlights where alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation could provide a more collaborative forum for resolving family disputes.
  • Image of Logan Cornett
    Logan Cornett
February 24, 2020
Since the launch of our Building a Better Bar project last July, IAALS has made significant headway in empirically defining the minimum competence law school students need to move on to successful practice. As of mid-February, we've held nearly 40 focus group sessions; we will wrap up all focus groups in March, and are preparing for a thorough analysis of the rich qualitative data we have gathered.
  • Image of Natalie Anne Knowlton
    Natalie Anne Knowlton
  • Image of Zachariah DeMeola
    Zachariah DeMeola
February 20, 2020
This week, the ABA House of Delegates passed Resolution 115, encouraging regulatory innovations to expand access to justice. The ABA now joins the Conference of Chief Justices in this call to action—putting bar leadership on this issue on par with the leadership shown by the courts.