• Image of Natalie Anne Knowlton
    Natalie Anne Knowlton
September 9, 2022
The State Bar of California’s foray into legal regulatory innovation has a relatively long history, yet its progress will be halted and disregarded unless Governor Newsom stands up to special-interest attorney groups.
  • Image of Jonna Perlinger
    Jonna Perlinger
July 19, 2022
A growing number of states are exploring the permanent implementation of alternative licensure approaches that would allow law school graduates to obtain their license through nontraditional avenues that run adjacent to—or bypass entirely—the bar exam.
  • Image of Natalie Anne Knowlton
    Natalie Anne Knowlton
  • head shot photo of Michael Houlberg
    Michael Houlberg
June 15, 2022
In May 2022, the Minnesota Supreme Court hosted a public hearing on several recommendations to improve the state's Legal Paraprofessional Pilot Project. Speakers in favor and opposition of the recommendations came together for constructive dialogue on tangible ways to improve the program and, ultimately, increase access to legal services.
  • Image of Zachariah DeMeola
    Zachariah DeMeola
February 25, 2022
Over the past several years, IAALS has designed resources to improve legal education and legal hiring; challenged the legal community to examine its licensure practices; and promoted a justice system that meets the demands of everyday people by clearing regulatory obstacles to innovation, development, and collaboration. And this work is just getting started.
  • Image of Janet Drobinske
    Janet Drobinske
January 13, 2022
This comment was submitted to the State Bar of California in support of the proposed Paraprofessional Program, which would authorize paraprofessionals to provide legal advice in areas such as family, consumer debt, landlord/tenant, employment/income, and collateral criminal cases, as well as represent parties in court (excluding jury trials).
  • Image of Natalie Anne Knowlton
    Natalie Anne Knowlton
  • Image of Zachariah DeMeola
    Zachariah DeMeola
December 13, 2021
Lawmakers in California recently spoke out against the state bar's exploration of regulatory reform as a means to address the access-to-justice crisis. However, the need for efficient and affordable legal services is growing exponentially—and data suggests that legal services innovation could a key part of the solution.
  • head shot photo of Michael Houlberg
    Michael Houlberg
October 21, 2021
Throughout 2020, we saw just about every aspect of the legal profession move from in-person to virtual services. There have been a number of horror stories but also plenty of success stories, in which technology helped decrease court backlogs and increased access to the courts. So where does this leave us, and how do we move forward?
  • Image of Natalie Anne Knowlton
    Natalie Anne Knowlton
September 30, 2021
From conversations with legal reformers in many states, the idea of establishing a regulatory sandbox seems extreme. The reality is, though, that these initiatives are not as aggressive as they might seem—and in fact, state courts have been using similar reform tools for a very long time.
  • Image of Brittany Kauffman
    Brittany Kauffman
September 1, 2021
IAALS and HiiL have released the results of our US Justice Needs study, providing data on the justice problems Americans experience and the ways they seek to resolve them. Now that we know what people need help with most, we can begin to chart a new path forward to improve our justice system nationwide.
  • headshot of Jordan Furlong
    Jordan Furlong
August 17, 2021
Lawyer development is a single continuum that starts even before the first day of law school, and continues past the point when a lawyer has become an independent, confident, and proficient professional. Until we recognize this fact, we will continue to struggle to develop lawyers properly.
  • Image of Logan Cornett
    Logan Cornett
  • Image of Zachariah DeMeola
    Zachariah DeMeola
August 2, 2021
The goal of any licensure process should be to make sure the public is protected from incompetence without serving as an artificial barrier to people entering the legal profession. Indeed, this is precisely what the bar exam purports to do. But does the bar exam actually do those things?
  • headshot of Anna Carpenter
    Anna Carpenter
  • headshot of Alyx Mark
    Alyx Mark
July 20, 2021
We’re researchers who study legal services regulation and access to the civil justice system. We’ve been thrilled to watch groundbreaking announcements from the West ignite a wide-ranging national debate about how best to regulate legal training, services, and businesses—and we’ve been paying special attention to the role people who are not lawyers are playing in the process of legal re-regulation.