News & Updates

A number of new smartphone apps aim to make the divorce process more collaborative and less adversarial. These apps encourage teamwork around parenting plans and help to keeps things civil by building stronger communication around important issues like events with children, scheduled appointments, childcare costs, and court dates.

It is no secret that divorce poses significant problems for those who go through the legal process. The adversarial nature of the legal process can put people at odds with one another and the courts are not well-positioned to provide emotional and future-planning support. IAALS has released a new report detailing the evaluation of our out-of-court model aimed at addressing these challenges for families with children.

Online dispute resolution is emerging in courts around the country. Last month, Arizona’s Administrative Office of the Courts announced the launch of an ODR pilot program in the family courts of Pinal County, and there are also startups providing similar services through intelligent dispute resolution.

Each month, the Colorado Lawyer publishes a “Judges Corner” article written by judges on a topic in which they are experts. This month, IAALS teamed with two judges to tackle the topic of unbundling and the important role that judges must play in promoting and encouraging its use.

As state courts around the country have been responding to the Conference of Chief Justices' 2016 Call to Action for civil justice reform, IAALS, NCSC, and NCJFCJ also have been focused on developing companion recommendations for evaluating and improving the way courts handle domestic relations cases, which have just been released.

In an important step toward making family courts more user-friendly and less adversarial, the Conference of Chief Justices has adopted new guidelines to help courts be more responsive to the needs of families.

“Justice for all.” It is a promise of American democracy and enshrined in our Pledge of Allegiance. And yet, it is not a reality. IAALS wants to change all of that. We are proud to present you with our 2018 Annual Report, which highlights our work and accomplishments within this important context.

Given the large number of people who navigate the legal system without any representation, justice system stakeholders have a duty to cut through the legalese and ensure that the system is more understandable to laypeople. To further that goal, IAALS is proud to co-sponsor a conference later this month at Hofstra University Maurice A. Deane School of Law, entitled Plain and Simple: Making the Legal System Accessible to All.

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP), recently announced the launch of their rebranded blog, “The Access Revolution Blog: Dispatches from the Frontlines.” The goal of the blog is to serve as a collaborative platform, breaking down the disconnect between users of the court and legal stakeholders, and to offer practical solutions to address the access to justice problem in Canada. 

 In an article for The Atlantic, Deborah Copaken gives us an unvarnished account of what it is like to go through the divorce process without a lawyer and exposes the difficulties faced by many litigants who choose to represent themselves in divorce court. 

Last month the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) launched a new website service to assist SRLs navigate complex court forms. The main site, a2j.org, hosts a series of “Guided Interviews” that walk SRLs through filling out various court forms using decision trees.

Today, IAALS announces the release of a new resource, Listen > Learn > Lead: A Guide to Improving Court Services through User-Centered Design, on how best to solicit feedback from self-represented litigants and other court stakeholders. The tools provided in this guide come from the knowledge IAALS gained through the Court Compass Project design sprint workshops.

Laura Storovich, a participant in our Colorado design sprint, shares her experience going through divorce as a self-represented litigant and her thoughts on our design sprint process.

In the past several years, design thinking has gained traction in the legal field as a method for involving litigants and other stakeholders in developing improvements to the legal system. IAALS has taken design thinking one step further in applying a structured qualitative research approach to the process.

Through its Court Compass Design Sprint Workshops, IAALS invited self-represented litigants to work alongside local judges, attorneys, and court administrators to improve the family law court process and access to justice. Litigants in Massachusetts, Iowa, North Carolina, and Colorado answered the call.

Our courts face a crisis of access. In a majority of family cases—divorce, separation, and custody issues—at least one party is self-represented. With upwards of 80 to 90 percent of cases involving a self-represented party, it is essential that self-represented litigants can navigate the process and know what to expect at key stages. Partnering with experts around the country, IAALS developed Court Compass as a way to engage court users in brainstorming ways to simplify the family court process.

The percentage of self-represented litigants in many state family courts is substantial. According to a new post by the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP), these self-represented parties often feel like outsiders in a court system that appears to them as a private club. 

For the fifth year in a row, the National Center for State Courts has conducted a comprehensive public opinion survey to gauge the level of public trust and confidence in the state courts. The State of the State Courts survey provides an important window into public views of our court system, including comparisons across past surveys and insights into key issues for the future of our state courts including self-representation and online dispute resolution.

The National Center for State Courts recently released an “explainer video” for courts to use as a resource when educating the public about the role of our state courts. The video looks back at the establishment of the judicial branch and the vision of our founders—of a court system that makes decisions based on law not public opinion, that is fair and impartial, that is accountable to the law and the Constitution, and open to people.

Over the past two years, IAALS has been collaborating with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) on a three-year project to support the modernization and transformation of civil litigation in our state courts. In October we hosted our final meeting for the Midwest Region in Kansas City, Missouri, where over 40 states and territories attended.