IAALS' 17th annual celebration drew 200 supporters and partners as we marked our shared achievements to improve access to justice, and united behind our collective efforts to uphold the rule of law and ensure that justice for all is a reality for everyone.

Today, the promise of our justice system is under siege. We face unprecedented attacks on the judiciary, attacks that aren’t just political, but fundamental. Collective action is needed not only to defend the rule of law, but to improve our justice system for all.

Robert Southers discusses what drives his passion for access to justice, building trust with the community, and what it means to receive the Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award.

At IAALS, philanthropic support is essential to advancing our mission of building a more accessible, fair, and efficient legal system. To assist in these efforts, we recently welcomed Megan Loeb as our Assistant Director of Development, Foundations, and Sponsored Programs.

We at IAALS are deeply saddened by the passing of Daniel L. Ritchie, one of our founders. IAALS is incredibly grateful for the vision and inspiration he brought both to IAALS’ founding and to its future, and we’re committed to championing the values he held dear in our work.

Sam Walker, Executive in Residence at the Office of the Colorado Attorney General, will be IAALS' inaugural Founders Award recipient. This honor is reserved for individuals who have made significant and sustained contributions to IAALS and its mission to unlock innovations that make our civil justice system more just.

As we begin 2025, IAALS is poised to make our biggest gains to date as we work to bring better access to our justice system for everyone. We have laid the groundwork for innovations across many states and sectors of our system—due in large part to people like you, our partners and colleagues.

Robert Southers, a transformative force in Ohio’s legal community, will receive IAALS' fifth annual Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award in April 2025. In just seven years since graduating from law school, Southers has made remarkable strides in improving access to justice.

In November, IAALS brought together 23 experts to discuss regulating AI in the delivery of consumer-facing legal services, its fourth in a series of convenings designed to align industry leaders around strategies to unlock legal regulation.

Lifetime tenure has been the source of controversy in recent years, and fixed, 18-year terms have become the most frequently proposed alternative.

Following Utah's example, several other states and Canadian provinces are exploring regulatory sandboxes to address the access to justice crisis and create innovative services for people's unmet legal needs.

The program recognizes that entrepreneurial lawyers and nonlawyers alike should be empowered to pilot a range of differing business forms that would otherwise be prohibited, but could ultimately improve access to justice and legal services for the public.