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Unlocking
Justice
Innovation

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.

Judicial Performance Evaluation 2.0

Current judicial performance evaluation (JPE) processes—which are like job evaluations for judges—no longer fully capture the experience of modern court users, the needs of modern judges, or the expectations of modern voters. Our JPE 2.0 project is helping JPE programs update their approaches to reflect modern realities, while remaining accurate, trusted, and relevant.

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Pathways to Legal Licensure

Several new ways of licensing lawyers are already underway across the country, alongside a few well-established methods that are decades old. IAALS is evaluating the licensure landscape to understand each method’s effectiveness in assessing minimum competence and protecting the public from malpractice.

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

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New IAALS Report Sets National Vision for Allied Legal Professionals via Reciprocity

IAALS has released Building Bridges: Guidelines for Creating Reciprocity between Allied Legal Professional Programs, a first-of-its-kind report offering detailed recommendations for how states can enable ALPs to transfer their credentials across state lines.

News and Updates

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What Skills Do New Lawyers Need? ABA Journal Spotlights Foundations 2.0

The ABA Journal recently highlighted the significance of Foundations 2.0 and its potential to reshape how we define and assess lawyer readiness. Our survey is now live, and we’re inviting lawyers across the country to weigh in.

News and Updates

What Is the Rule of Law, and Why Should We Be Concerned when it's Under Attack?

The legal controversies surrounding many of the current administration's policy initiatives have included calls to impeach judges who have ruled against the government, and defenders of the judiciary frequently have characterized these events as attacks on the rule of law.

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IAALS Launches Groundbreaking Multi-State Study on Legal Licensure Reform

IAALS has launched Pathways to Legal Licensure, a landmark empirical study examining multiple approaches to attorney licensure across the United States. The project will assess how different licensure pathways measure and uphold minimum competency in the legal profession.