Throughout the past ten months, our justice system has made giant strides in its use of technology, including video- and tele-conferencing, e-filing, remote jury trials, and online dispute resolution. The question now faced by many courts is: are these digital processes working like they’re supposed to?

IAALS has released new initial discovery protocols to help both businesses and insurers alike reach a quick resolution to the rapid increase in court cases involving business interruption insurance property damage claims due to COVID-19.

The pandemic has affected our civil justice system in many ways, yet perhaps the most important role access to justice entities can play in the near future is to advocate for the retention of remote access systems for court appearances as well as for the delivery of legal and self-help services.

IAALS has named Professor David Yellen as its new chief executive officer, taking over leadership of the organization on June 1, 2021. "IAALS has a powerful, influential voice in efforts to improve the justice system and it gets results,” said Yellen. "I am delighted to join this outstanding team and to contribute to this urgently important work."

On December 31, 2020, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary. In it, he lauds the flexibility and innovation shown by courts across the country as their operations were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 revealed that most of us are swimming naked when it comes to our ability to meaningfully access our justice system. 2020 certainly exacerbated issues, but its true effect and power was revealing our society’s not-so-secret dirty secrets: systemic racism, growing income inequality, the failing U.S. healthcare system, and a justice system that only serves a small minority of Americans.

On December 9, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law co-hosted a virtual discussion with Dan Rodriguez, former dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, on why our balkanized system of professional regulation makes it much more difficult to meet the demand for legal services.

Last week, IAALS and our project partner HiiL cohosted a series of virtual Justice Data Lab meetings with our US Justice Needs Advisory Committee and a few additional partners. In August launched the individual survey of legal problems, receiving responses from 10,000 individuals from across the United States, and we are now analyzing the data.

Earlier this month, IAALS Manager Michael Houlberg joined Presiding Judge Clemens Landau of the Salt Lake City Justice Court for a webinar that covered new ideas and practices that legal service providers have developed from the COVID-19 pandemic—many of which may bolster the justice system long into the future.

IAALS is deeply saddened by the news of Paula Littlewood’s passing, and we extend our sympathies to her family, friends, and colleagues. Paula’s partnership with IAALS was long and deep, and we will sorely miss her.

In June of this year, HiiL surveyed thought leaders in the justice sector about what it would mean to deliver justice during the COVID-19 crisis. The goal was to collect real-time data about justice needs and innovative responses to the pandemic, including the kinds of problems expected to increase and the ways justice institutions in various countries were already responding to them.

In the past few months, there have been encouraging updates in several states aimed at more effectively addressing the legal needs of disaster survivors. Two states—Louisiana and Texas—implemented various tools to help streamline litigation arising from these disasters.