Last week, IAALS and HiiL released the results of our US Justice Needs study, a groundbreaking effort to assess the justice needs of all Americans—of all backgrounds, income levels, and across all regions of the country. This landmark report has been years in the making, and the wealth of data will be used for targeted reforms to improve access to justice nationwide.
We’ve already seen incredible enthusiasm around this research, and we invite you to learn more in the newsletter below. We also hope you’ll join us on September 15 for a special webinar with experts from key justice institutions and perspectives to speak about the study results and its crucial implications for access-to-justice policy in the United States. Our work with the US Justice Needs data is ongoing, with more information and resources coming soon.
David Yellen, CEO September 2021
IAALS and HiiL Release Results of US Justice Needs Study: The just-released US Justice Needs report highlights the breadth and scope of the American access-to-justice crisis, including racial, ethnic, and socio-economic disadvantages. This new data will allow for targeted civil justice reform in a research-driven way, during a time in our history when it is most critically needed.
Read co-authorLogan Cornett's deep dive into this data, including the myriad justice problems Americans experience, the ways they seek to resolve them, and which of those ways are working—and which aren't.
Read co-author Brittany Kauffman's expert opinion on what this data means for efforts to improve our justice system moving forward—namely, utilizing an evidence-based, people-centered approach.
O’Connor Advisory Committee Members Call for Term Limits for U.S. Supreme Court Justices: Two members of IAALS’ O’Connor Advisory Committee are calling for an end to lifetime appointments on the U.S. Supreme Court. Their statement comes in the wake of calls for Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement, who some say should step down so that a younger justice can be appointed while President Biden is still in office.
To See Clearly: The Mission of Defining Lawyer Competence and Revitalizing the Legal Profession: 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.
Be sure to read all of the news from IAALS on our blog.
August 31: "Why Advocates Are Calling To Rethink Law School Rankings" on Law360
August 30: "4 Ideas For Updating Law Schools Post-Pandemic" on Law360 August 27: "IAALS Promises Data of American Justice Needs in Soon-to-be-Released Study" in Law Week Colorado August 24: "Legal Profession Must Look Beyond Lawyers For Innovation" on Law360 Pulse August 24: "New Study Reveals the Full Extent of the Access to Justice Crisis in America" on Yahoo! Finance August 23: "LawNext: Reregulation of Legal Services – A Panel of Five Leading Experts Discuss" on the LawNext podcast August 22: "Money & the Law: States, courts work to increase access to justice" in the Gazette
August 20: "Panel of advocates for legal regulatory change highlight second ABA, IAALS program" on the ABA website August 13: "Model Rule 5.4: How It Protects Little, Harms a Lot, and Why Its Removal Can Greatly Benefit Lawyers" in GPSolo
August 13: "All Rise—Together" in GPSolo August 13: "Defining Lawyer Competence" inLaw21 August 12: "It's Time To Upgrade Our Attorney Licensure Rules" onLaw360 August 5: "Examining the Bar Exam, Again" in Above the Law August 3: "Calls to Eliminate Bar Exams Are Premature" in Bloomberg Law
