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Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System

Justice we can believe in.

Building a Better Bar: Capturing Minimum Competence

The legal profession has never had a clear, explicit understanding of the minimum competence needed to practice law and how it should be tested on the bar exam (or through other licensing approaches). Through this project, we have defined minimum competence and have new recommendations for how the legal licensing process—including the bar exam—must change to better serve the public.

Unlocking Legal Regulation

Too many people cannot effectively access our legal system to protect their rights and resolve their disputes. But if we want to make legal services more accessible, we must re-envision how they are delivered. This project is about taking a bold step forward into a consumer-centered regulatory system—one that is competitive, broadly accessible, and better meets the needs of the people.

US Justice Needs

People of all socioeconomic backgrounds face problems every day with unclear paths to resolution, and 120 million legal problems do not reach a fair resolution every year. With the launch of our findings, we have not only uncovered the justice needs of our diverse populations nationwide—we are paving the way for meaningful progress to close the justice gaps in our society.

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.

people gathered to improve the legal system

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.

dad and daughter walking into courthouse

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

Data from Utah’s Sandbox Shows Extraordinary Promise, Refutes Fears of Harm

Despite trepidation from some in the legal community around the idea of nonlawyers providing legal services, newly released data from Utah's sandbox proves those fears unfounded—and that, in fact, the opposite is true. Sandbox providers are bringing a variety of safe legal services to thousands of consumers.

letter U with city inside and letter S with rural landscape inside

The US Justice Needs Study: A Watershed Moment for Achieving Equal Access to Justice

IAALS and HiiL have released the results of our US Justice Needs study, providing data on the justice problems Americans experience and the ways they seek to resolve them. Now that we know what people need help with most, we can begin to chart a new path forward to improve our justice system nationwide.

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.

girl looking frustrated while studying at nighttime

The Bar Exam Does More Harm than Good

The goal of any licensure process should be to make sure the public is protected from incompetence without serving as an artificial barrier to people entering the legal profession. Indeed, this is precisely what the bar exam purports to do. But does the bar exam actually do those things?