The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) recently published a paper that looks at costs awards to self-represented litigants (SRLs) in Canadian courts. The paper notes the leading Canadian cases in which SRLs have been ordered costs awards and analyzes the development of these principles in family law matters. Generally, the report concludes that Canadian courts have broadened SRLs’ ability to obtain costs.

Law school clinics are often said to serve two goals. They are a place where law students can develop and practice their legal skills in a real setting, with the safety net of faculty supervision. They also aim to serve low and modest means clients whose legal needs might otherwise go unmet. And, according to a recent study, clinics are achieving these goals.

The ABA Center for Innovation launched a new project in April that will provide legal aid organizations with free technology that will hopefully make them more efficient and able to help more clients. The project, called "Legal Tech for a Change,” will allow the Center for Innovation to serve as a broker between legal aid organization grantees and established legal technology companies. The Center will also vet potential technology solutions.

Tony is one of a kind. He sees the big picture and can envision unique solutions to old problems. His enthusiasm and ideas are boundless, and he knits them all together and is able to see causes and effects. And, of course, he is incredibly tech-savvy. He is connected, internationally, to the innovators in law and delivery of legal services. With Tony in our midst, we can expand the reach and possibilities of IAALS’ impact exponentially.

Much has been done over the past five years to address the cost and delay in the civil justice process, and much of that work has focused on discovery. Recognizing that there are equal challenges and opportunities for improvement in the area of motions practice, IAALS has focused on understanding the current motions landscape and issuing recommendations for improvement. In this effort, IAALS has released a new report intended to spark a national conversation about the current challenges of summary judgment.

The Young Lawyer Editorial Board of The American Lawyer recently called out a growing disconnect between the skills and training law students are receiving and the tasks new lawyers are asked to complete in practice. For example, new lawyers today are often asked to manage both teams and deadline schedules, and also to take the lead on important documents and matters early in their careers. However, today’s typical law school curriculum does not always cover all these important areas.

Denmark has been known for allowing quick access to many official documents and services online, including $60 online divorces within a week. But starting next year, Danish couples with kids who want to get a divorce will have to undergo a three-month “reflection period” with free counseling before they can officially divorce. Couples without children and couples where abuse is present can still opt for the faster divorce process.

The Colorado Supreme Court’s Attorney Regulation Counsel recently released statistics on the state’s legal employment, which revealed an interesting trend. According to the Denver Business Journal, the study found that fewer than half of the 1,473 active female attorneys younger than 30 years old are working in law firms of any size, and only 20 percent of female attorneys in that age range went to work for big law firms. At the same time, law school classes around the country are fairly equally divided between male and female students, on average.

IAALS’ own Natalie Knowlton was recently interviewed for a Chicago Tribune advice column for self-represented litigants about the problems they face and the tools available that can help increase access to justice for those navigating the legal system without a lawyer.

In the last blog, we explained that the 77 foundations survey respondents identified as being necessary for new lawyers in the short term are largely consistent and definitive across respondents. Still, there were a few differences that highlight foundations some practice settings emphasize over others. Similarly, when we focused on private practice, we discovered only slight variations among different law firm sizes. In this blog, we explore the foundations that make up the whole lawyer for each private practice firm size category, and the differences as compared with one another and the whole lawyer overall.

Changes in recent years to California’s budget, priorities, and policies have resulted in a focus on criminal over civil matters. In the yearly State of the Judiciary address, however, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye highlighted some of the ways California is planning to improve access to justice in its courts. Among them: better meeting the needs of self-represented litigants.

America’s civil justice system is failing to deliver on the promise of a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution in every case. However, by taking charge of cases from their beginning to end, courts have the power to change that. IAALS’ latest report, Redefining Case Management, offers strategies to help the courts take charge of the delivery of justice in response to the changing landscape in our courts.