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Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System

Justice we can believe in.

Through empirical research, Foundations has compiled the competencies, skills, and characteristics new lawyers need to succeed. Now we are creating different pathways to improve professional development, legal education, and legal hiring, working directly with law firms and law schools to implement best practices.

The Cady Initiative for Family Justice Reform

The Cady Initiative for Family Justice Reform involves assessing and implementing best practices in domestic relations cases, with the objective of improving the way family courts handle them nationwide—by making courts less adversarial, more efficient, and more responsive to the needs of families involved in litigation.

Judicial Performance Evaluation

We are at the forefront of efforts to improve and expand programs for evaluating the performance of state and federal court judges.

What We Do

IAALS is changing how our system serves people today, while anticipating and preparing for future needs—delivering justice all of us can believe in.

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For the People

What good is the promise of “justice for all” if costs, complexity, and inaccessibility make it impossible for so many? Our system is designed to serve the people, so IAALS places them at the center of all we do.

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Through the Courts

At IAALS, we’re identifying innovations that make the court system easier to navigate for everyone, while also helping courts increase efficiency, reduce procedural complexity, and make the most of the often limited resources they have.

With the Profession

The legal profession must evolve to put client and consumer needs first. IAALS is helping do just that—through improved legal education, better lawyer licensing, and re-regulation of legal services to make them more available and responsive to all.

We work across five broad areas of reform in our legal system:

Civil Justice Reform

Family Justice Reform

The Judiciary

Legal Education

Legal Profession

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Recent News and Updates

News and Updates

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IAALS’ Comment to the Michigan Supreme Court on Virtual Proceedings and Lessons Learned from the Pandemic

IAALS submitted this comment to the Michigan Supreme Court and the Lessons Learned Committee in response to the state’s preliminary report, Michigan Trial Courts: Lessons Learned from the Pandemic of 2020-21, Preliminary Findings, Best Practices, and Recommendations. The report highlights the common experiences that shaped the Michigan justice system throughout the pandemic.

News and Updates

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To Close the Justice Gap, We Must Look Beyond Lawyers

Under many states’ current regulatory framework, a lawyer is the only option when it comes to addressing legal issues. Fortunately, however, a number of states are looking beyond lawyers—to limited licensed paraprofessionals, lay advocates, court navigators, and other types of allied legal professionals—in order to close the justice gap. And that number is growing.

The Future of the Legal Profession: In Person or Virtual?

Throughout 2020, we saw just about every aspect of the legal profession move from in-person to virtual services. There have been a number of horror stories but also plenty of success stories, in which technology helped decrease court backlogs and increased access to the courts. So where does this leave us, and how do we move forward?

Informational Page

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Paths to Justice Summit Series

Moving forward, the pandemic will have lasting implications for our justice system. How do we create paths forward to achieve justice for all? To answer this question, IAALS has launched a virtual summit series, Paths to Justice, including a series of webinars focusing on the paths of the pandemic, the paths to access, and the paths to racial justice that our system must walk in our new normal. Registration is free and open now.