Legal Profession

An outdated regulatory system limits access to justice

For most people, legal help is too difficult to find, too expensive to afford, or too restricted to access. While legal needs continue to grow, the structure of the legal profession has remained largely unchanged—constrained by outdated regulatory frameworks that limit innovation, restrict who can provide services, and narrow how legal help is delivered.

These constraints have helped create a system in which millions of people face legal problems without meaningful assistance. To expand access to affordable, effective legal help, we must modernize the rules that govern the legal profession itself.

Transforming the legal profession

A modern legal profession requires regulation that protects the public while enabling innovation. When rules are designed around outcomes rather than tradition, the legal services ecosystem can grow to include a broader range of providers, tools, and models—all working to meet people where they are.

IAALS advances evidence-based reforms that unlock legal regulation, support responsible innovation, and extend access to justice. An expanded legal profession in which lawyers work alongside new practitioners and technologists can provide more legal help for more people in need.

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Unlocking Legal Regulation

Legal regulation shapes who can provide legal services, how they are delivered, and which innovations are possible. IAALS provides research and recommendations, convenes stakeholders, tracks regulatory developments across the United States, and supports jurisdictions exploring new approaches to regulations and service delivery.

More about our work

  • Regulating AI in the Delivery of Consumer-Facing Legal Services

    As artificial intelligence tools rapidly enter the legal services market, regulators face urgent questions about oversight, accountability, and consumer protection. We have examined how AI is being used in consumer-facing legal services and identified principles to guide responsible regulation.

  • Evaluating the Utah Regulatory Sandbox

    Utah’s sandbox represents one of the most significant experiments in legal services reform in the United States. IAALS is conducting a formal, independent evaluation of the sandbox to assess how new service models perform in practice and how regulatory innovation affects consumers.

  • People-Centered Legal Regulation: Grassroots Engagement with the Public

    Legal regulation should reflect the needs and experiences of the people it is meant to protect. This project engages members of the public directly to understand how they experience legal problems and what they expect from legal services and regulation.

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Allied Legal Professionals

Expanding access to justice requires a broader ecosystem of legal service providers. IAALS explores how trained, regulated nonlawyer professionals can safely and effectively assist people with common legal needs. Our national frameworks help states across the country design new pathways, and our dedicated knowledge center tracks national updates.

More about the project
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Above the Line Network

Middle-class Americans face daunting challenges finding affordable legal help when they need it. With the middle class representing more than 50% of our nation’s population, their challenges in getting legal help have profound, far-reaching consequences. In partnership with The Chicago Bar Foundation, IAALS launched the Above the Line Network to connect providers from across the United States, Canada, and beyond, and collectively transform and increase legal services for the underserved middle class.

More about the network

How can we help? IAALS partners with stakeholders nationwide to build, implement, and evaluate legal system innovations. Learn more.

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