News & Updates

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.

At Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, we’ve been fortunate to have a front-row seat to the outcomes and transformation that IAALS has achieved through Foundations for Practice. We collaborated with IAALS to survey our partners on the characteristics that they viewed as most essential for new associates to be successful at WTO, and the outcomes for retention and diversity have been exciting and encouraging.

In June, the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services submitted its final report to the Florida Supreme Court, recommending that Florida adopt a Law Practice Innovation Laboratory Program where recommendations, such as amended rules surrounding fee-splitting and law firm ownership as well as regulated nonlawyer providers of limited legal services, would be tested and evaluated.

In May, the Colorado Judicial Branch announced that a pilot program allowing documents in family court cases to be filed online will expand. Many courts in the last year have implemented or bolstered their e-filing systems in order to keep the legal system moving amidst courthouse closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Georgetown Civil Justice Data Commons recently made the case for “Why We Need Civil Justice Data,” laying out how those living in or near poverty also face a multitude of issues related to housing, finances, health, and overall well-being. Each of these areas can easily cross over into civil legal issues—and oftentimes, they do.

IAALS is pleased to announce that Amy Livingston has joined the organization as its new Director of Development. She brings over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector as an executive leader, strategic thought partner, philanthropic advisor, consultant, and board chair/member.

In October 2020, IAALS published its groundbreaking report on the 12 building blocks of minimum competence to be a lawyer, our 5 insights for assessment, and our 10 recommendations for better legal licensing—with the goal of improving the bar exam and the overall licensing process. Here, we cover the fourth, fifth, and sixth building blocks of minimum competence.

As I’ve learned from many years practicing and advocating for innovative design changes in legal education, teaching online does not and should not involve doing what professors have always done—lecturing, leading discussions, and delivering exams—just through internet-enabled platforms. Instead, law professors should implement design principles to their courses for delivery in any modality: classroom, online, or blended.

I am thrilled to have officially joined IAALS as CEO on June 1. With 15 years of unparalleled success, IAALS is stronger than ever—and I look forward to contributing to the innovation and collaboration that are at the heart of its mission.

This month, IAALS and its partners kicked off the Redesigning Legal Speaker Series with a panel exploring how judicial leadership can play a critical role in expanding access to legal services and access to justice. The panelists discussed the status of regulatory innovation, how courts and others are seeking to address the problems, and why state supreme courts and the organized bar must start forging solutions now.

In May, the National Center for Access to Justice published the latest iteration of the Justice Index, a national survey of state civil justice policies. Based on an examination of policies across four civil justice areas—attorney access, support for self-represented litigants, language access, and disability access—the index assigns a score to each state.

In a recent national survey asking about the importance of 12 characteristics of judges, survey respondents indicated that the public prizes a judge's professional qualities above all others, including political qualities—preferences that have obvious relevance for methods of judicial selection.

In October 2020, IAALS published its groundbreaking report on the 12 building blocks of minimum competence to be a lawyer, our 5 insights for assessment, and our 10 recommendations for better legal licensing—with the goal of improving the bar exam and the overall licensing process. Here, we cover the first three building blocks of minimum competence.

Throughout the past year, our courts have been engaged in informal pilot projects—they’ve tried out different technologies and processes, all in an effort to continue the administration of justice amid the pandemic. Now, we have the opportunity to learn from this experience and chart a path forward long term.

In May 2021, amendments to the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect, several of which provide better notice of parties’ rights and obligations at the outset and throughout a lawsuit. The rule amendments are also paired with forms that include notice of rights in plain language and in multiple languages.

Following a new law giving the state's governor the sole power to fill mid-term judicial vacancies, former Montana Supreme Court Justice James C. Nelson calls for the implementation of a merit-based judicial selection process to keep Montana’s courts free from partisanship and outside influence.

In March, IAALS wrapped up our Pandemic Positives Speaker Series, bringing together a number of courts and legal service providers who, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, quickly implemented new processes for providing both in-person and virtual services to ensure access to information and assistance.

Over the past year, we have processed three wrenching national experiences. At IAALS, we have imagined the experiences as tests. Because we aspire to advance the American legal system, we have sought to answer these tests together—and for the sake of our shared mission.

Civil jury trials have been few since the pandemic began. Cases stalled and slowed, phone conferences and Zoom replaced in-person hearings, and deadlines were extended. How did courts handle the tension between civil rules and procedure on the one hand, and the fundamental right to a jury trial on the other? And, what will stick?

The Chicago Bar Foundation has put together a new toolkit for Illinois attorneys who would like to offer unbundled legal services to potential clients with civil matters in trial court. The toolkit helps attorneys to determine whether or not a litigant is a good candidate for bundling, provides attorneys with talking points, and contains other practical materials.