The closing of courthouses in response to the pandemic complicated both the traditional collection and interpretation of judicial performance evaluation data. However, state courts’ adoption of new technologies over the past year has created fresh opportunities to improve JPE data collection, analysis, and dissemination going forward.

Last month, IAALS kicked off our Pandemic Positives Speaker Series, bringing together a number of courts and legal service providers who, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, transformed their day-to-day operations to continue serving the public throughout this critical time.

In December 2020, the Texas Commission on Judicial Selection submitted its report on the fairness, effectiveness, and desirability of partisan elections for judicial selection in Texas. Although the commission recommended against the current partisan elections method, the members did not agree on an alternative method for judicial selection and will continue studying potential reforms.

The pandemic’s disruption to the status quo brought with it a critical view of the bar exam, how it is administered, and whether it actually tests what it purports to. The status quo—and tinkering around its edges—is not good enough. It is time we had the courage and will to look beyond the assumptions that underpin the current bar exam and towards outcomes and purpose for a new era.

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.