Events

IAALS hosted a convening at the Penrose House in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in November for a small group of judges, attorneys, and scholars from around the country focused on the current challenges of summary judgment and dispositive motions practice, and solutions designed to decrease cost and delay. 

What if in two days we could bring together leaders across North America to create paths that help close the justice gap through unbundled legal services? This conference brought together those dedicated to improving access to justice in order to have interactive exchanges that will lay the foundation for the creation of strategic plans for a broader implementation of unbundled legal services.

As the institutions entrusted with educating lawyers, law schools are uniquely positioned to ensure that new lawyers are not only prepared to enter the profession, but also to serve clients. The 2017 Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference put clients front and center by exploring client needs; by showcasing lawyers, organizations, and others leading the way to improved delivery of legal services; and by tapping into the collective wisdom of innovative legal educators to bring these concepts to life in law schools..

This one-day gathering brought together people interested in discussing and learning more about the history, launch, and lessons learned of COCD’s innovative service model for families transitioning during divorce or separation, and helped foster an engaging exchange of ideas about similar efforts around the country and the sharing of information and experiences regarding out-of-court models for divorce and separation.

IAALS brought together judges, attorneys, scholars, and citizens from around the country to consider best practices for judicial recusal procedures that are fair to both judge and litigant, and that are efficient and transparent. This invitation-only convening focused on the process of recusal and did not wade into questions regarding the appropriate or necessary reasons for recusal.

Law schools across the country are talking about learning outcomes—what should they be, how do you develop them, and how do you measure them? Our 5th Annual Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference focused on how to create meaningful learning outcomes, how to measure whether those outcomes are being met, and how to turn those outcomes into tangible hiring criteria for legal employers.

Recent IAALS research on self-representation in family courts suggests that litigants would benefit greatly from having assistance navigating the court process. In June 2016, IAALS brought together experts from around the country to explore how litigant portals and related online self-help solutions can be leveraged to better serve divorce and separation litigants who do not have lawyers to represent them.

IAALS' Fourth Civil Justice Reform Summit focused on implementing change and creating the just, speedy, and inexpensive courts of tomorrow.

In November 2015, IAALS held a convening of thought leaders from a cross-section of the family law bar, and who are representative of the practice and broader community, to leverage the bar's expertise to better serve clients and their children.

At the 4th Annual Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference, we debuted survey results from our Foundations for Practice project, following a survey of attorneys nationwide to identify the foundations entry-level lawyers need for practice.

Lawyers providing personal legal services cover a wide spectrum and are all subject to changes beyond their control. The 20th century model of providing legal services is in question with lawyers facing both pressures and opportunities to change. This conference looked at that business model, looked at the potential for change, and set out a course to assure that legal services are vital moving forward.

In June 2015, IAALS convened a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys from Colorado and around the country to discuss the present and future impact of civil justice reform in the United States.

IAALS convened a group of senior in-house counsel and corporate management from around the country to discuss the challenges surrounding discovery in litigation. The convening provided an opportunity to discuss the current challenges and ways in which the costs of discovery can be controlled for all involved in the civil justice system.

Traditional notions of assessment in legal education have limited our capacity to truly measure whether law students are receiving the education and training they need to enter the profession. This conference demonstrated how assessment can be used for teaching, for learning, and as support for law schools and educators when developing new or innovative models.

IAALS hosted a Forum for a small group of stakeholders from around the country for the purpose of gathering comments on the proposed federal rules amendments. Following the meeting, IAALS compiled the comments and submitted them to the Civil Rules Advisory Committee for its consideration. The comments included the various divergent views from Forum attendees, as well as areas of consensus.

Our 2nd Annual Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Conference took a closer look at these 3 questions: What core competencies do entry level lawyers need? What structural and curricular changes ensure law grads have the necessary core competencies? How can law school accreditation and bar admissions standards facilitate innovation in legal education?

IAALS and the National Judicial College co-hosted the 2nd Annual Educational Summit for State Court Judges: Unlocking E-Discovery. The Summit provided a forum exclusively tailored for state court judges to learn about all facets of the discovery of electronically stored information—from preservation to production to eventual use at trial.

IAALS, in collaboration with the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies and the Aspen Institute Justice & Society Program, sponsored “An Uncommon Dialogue” about judicial selection.

Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers hosted its first annual conference, The Development of Professional Identity in Legal Education: Rethinking Learning and Assessment, at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. This was a working conference of two-three person teams from the participating ETL consortium schools. It focused on developing expertise around the formation of professional identity in legal education.

IAALS hosted its Third Civil Justice Reform Summit in September 2012. With a wealth of data from state and federal jurisdictions that are experimenting with innovative case management strategies and new rules of civil procedure, this Summit focused on the landscape of innovation and how lawyers, judges, court personnel, and academics can further advance innovative solutions.