Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Highlights IAALS’ Work to “Right-Size” Litigation

IAALS and the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice’s joint report, Reforming Our Civil Justice System: A Report on Progress & Promise, continues to garner attention at a national level. In its Civil Justice Playbook feature this month, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel features the work of theRule One Initiative and the Task Force. The article notes that, as compared to the 2009 Final Report, “the Progress and Promise update has sharper elbows.”

What has changed since 2009? According to IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis, plenty. Federal and state pilot projects around the country have been exploring civil justice reform through pilot projects aimed at achieving a more “just, speedy, and inexpensive” process, and from this experimentation has flowed real data on outcomes to support the Task Force’s recommendations on these issues. “This report has more conclusiveness,” says Kourlis in the article. The report recognizes that one size does not fit all, it focuses on proportionality as the most important principle applied to discovery, and it underscores the need for efficient case management. The report provides clear direction for how the civil justice system must change in order to renew and uphold its promise for everyone who needs its help.

“The ultimate objective is that people start bringing their disputes back to the courts. That would be a great thing.”