News & Updates

In July 2016, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators recognized the important needs of litigants in our state courts and responded by adopting a set of 13 Recommendations focused on ensuring our courts are affordable, efficient, and fair for all.

Debtor’s prisons have been illegal in the United States for nearly 200 years, and in 1983 the United State Supreme Court’s ruling in Bearden v. Georgia again made it clear that judges cannot send people to jail simply because they do not have the…

New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Daniels had grim news for state legislators at his annual State of the Judiciary speech last month: the state’s judicial system may no longer be able to provide New Mexicans with adequate access to their Constitutional rights due to a crippling financial crisis.

Last year, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts dedicated his 2015 year-end report on the State of the Judiciary to extolling the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He noted the amendments serve as an important stride forward…

Later this week at the ABA Midyear Meeting, a panel discussion will focus on the current challenges facing our civil justice system, recommendations for achieving civil justice for all, and how to make these recommendations a reality in our state…

It has been just over a year since substantial changes were made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, aimed at reducing the high costs and long delays faced by civil court litigants. And, this effort has not been limited to the federal courts. Many state-level changes have also been implemented across the country and Colorado has emerged as a leader by incorporating the federal amendments and making permanent many aspects of its Civil Access Pilot Project.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) released a Request for Proposals to identify potential participants in a pilot project for implementing access to justice portals. The legal access portal concept emerged from the 2013 LSC Technology Summit as one…

IAALS works extensively with partners from around the country as we take on the toughest problems in the legal system. Our Business Leadership Network brings together private sector advisors to find solutions to the challenges we face. Earlier this…

One year ago today, the long awaited amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect. The “package” of amendments included changes across a number of rules and focused on increasing cooperation, achieving proportionality in discovery, and encouraging early case management by judges. A new Rule 37(e) was added addressing sanctions for the failure to preserve electronically stored information.

On November 3, the federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee met in Washington D.C. to discuss a range of issues—from current proposed rule amendments to future projects focused on discovery practice and active judicial case management. The Committee is…

Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy Rice is implementing a new resource for self-represented litigants—the Colorado Equal Access Center. The Center supplements the Colorado Judicial Department’s ongoing efforts to respond to a substantial justice gap in Colorado courts (and in states around the country).

On October 5, 2016, I was honored to be a panelist at IAALS’ joint Law Firm Council and Business Leadership Network meeting. There were three panels at this plenary session: 1) a panel of corporate in-house counsel; 2) a panel of outside counsel; and 3) a panel of judges (from both the federal bench and the state bench).

Implicit bias can obstruct the goal of fair, trusted, and accountable courts, and many groups have recognized how such unconscious perceptions can affect litigants, judges, and other aspects of the legal system. Recently, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates took action by adopting Resolution 116, which amended the ABA Principles for Juries and Jury Trials.

In July, the Conference of Chief Justices Civil Justices approved a resolution endorsing the Recommendations of its Civil Justice Improvements Committee. The Committee’s report, Call to Action: Achieving Justice for All, issues a call to action to the state courts to improve our civil justice system—and a strategic response in the form of thirteen recommendations for restoring function and faith in our civil justice system.

Arizona has long been a leader in civil justice reform, and last week Arizona led the way again with a set of recommendations from its Committee on Civil Justice Reform. The Committee was established by the Arizona Supreme Court in December 2015 to “develop recommendations, including rule amendments or pilot projects, to reduce the cost and time required to resolve civil cases in Arizona’s superior courts.”

The American Bar Association recently launched a free, new resource for income-eligible users with civil law-related questions. The virtual legal advice clinic— ABAFreeLegalAnswers.org—is an online version of the walk-in advice clinic model and…

When significant amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect last December, we celebrated this important achievement but also stressed that how the rules were implemented would be key to seeing a positive impact. The importance of how the amendments are being implemented has not been lost on the bench and bar. In fact, it has been the focus of 2016.

The American Bar Association’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services recently released a report that identifies problems with the delivery of legal services along with suggested remedies. According to the report, despite persistent efforts to…

The Self-Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) recently released America’s Civil Courts: Whom Do We Serve? ­­—a geospatial story map designed to help the tens of millions of Americans attempting to navigate the civil legal system without a lawyer…

IAALS made a clarion call for improvements to our courts some ten years ago, and since then has been instrumental in promoting rules changes, including the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, effective December of last year. Those new rules have set sail with a rousing endorsement from Chief Justice John Roberts who, in his year-end report, described the amendments as “a major stride toward a better federal court system.” He also noted that the new Rules can only achieve the goal of a “just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding” (the promise of Rule 1) if “the entire legal community, including the bench, bar and legal academy, step up to the challenge of making real change.” IAALS continues to pursue that change, promoting the rules through educational programs, pilot projects, and a new culture necessary to make the changes successful.