News & Updates

Kim Kardashian West wears many hats: reality television star, media personality, businesswoman, wife, and mother. But the second eldest Kardashian told Vogue she has plans to add “lawyer” to her list of titles, though she has no plans to take the LSAT or apply to law schools. Instead, she is “reading the law”—an alternate, apprenticeship-based path to becoming a lawyer.

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.

The best lawyers are not the ones that leave “no stone unturned” but rather they are the ones who know which stones are critical to the outcome of the dispute. This type of professional judgment lies at the core of every successful litigator, and this message is reinforced loud and clear in IAALS’ Recommendations for Improving Dispositive Motions Practice in State and Federal Courts.

Gay Cook has been with IAALS' Board of Advisors since 2015, where she has served as a source of objectivity, perspective, intellect, and candor. We thank her for being our conscience over the years, and we are better for her lens and contributions.

This week, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and Senior Director Brittany Kauffman have been attending the World Justice Forum at The Hague. The Forum has generated discussion around some of the most pressing legal topics in the world today.

On May 17, 2019, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association will honor IAALS Senior Director Alli Gerkman with the Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award at their “All Rise” 42nd Annual Convention. The CWBA is honoring Alli for her outstanding work to improve legal education, the legal profession, and the legal system at large—a true legal trailblazer.

In December 2018, NCSC issued its Final Report for the Arizona Superior Court’s three-year Commercial Court Pilot Program, which provides a formal analysis of the impact of the Commercial Court in cases not involving emergency relief, and offers additional recommendations to help streamline the now permanent Commercial Court.

IAALS’ Court Compass project has received an honorable mention as part of the World Justice Project’s World Justice Challenge 2019. Thirty projects have been selected as finalists to be showcased at the World Justice Forum on April 29 – May 2, and IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and Senior Director Brittany Kauffman will be in attendance and speaking on panels.

Many law schools have been developing courses based around technology and the law; however, there is often a mismatch between the tech skills that law firms need and the skills that these law school technology courses are actually teaching.

On Thursday, April 25, IAALS will present the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and our four Foundations for Practice partner schools with the 2019 Rebuilding Justice Annual Award at our 12th Annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner for their efforts in bringing the Foundations project to life.

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.

It was IAALS’ honor to know and work closely with Justice Daryl Hecht of Iowa, who passed away last week. His was a life well-lived, and we are all lucky to have had him in our midst.

Last October, the Federal Judicial Center released a second report on the Pilot Project Regarding Initial Discovery Protocols for Employment Cases Alleging Adverse Action, which sets forth a set of pattern discovery protocols developed by a task force of plaintiff and defense attorneys working in conjunction with IAALS.

“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.

Divorce is a highly stressful experience for all those involved, but the impacts on children can be especially profound. A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the Effects of Conflict and Divorce is a new, must-read resource for parents at any stage of the divorce process—whether they are simply contemplating divorce, in the middle of the legal process, or working on co-parenting afterward.

This month IAALS is co-hosting the third in a series of webinars with the National Center for State Courts focused on providing practical information and guidance on implementing civil justice reform, titled, "Civil Justice Reform: Making Motions Practice More Effective and Efficient." The webinars are part of our three-year Civil Justice Initiative implementation project focused on providing support for on-the-ground reform through education, expert assistance, regional action planning summits, demonstration projects, and a variety of tools.

We have been very fortunate to have Mark Nadeau on our Board of Advisors. Mark’s depth of thought, intellect, and candor—and his deep generosity—have been valuable assets at IAALS, and we count him among our blessings.

Next month IAALS will participate in an American Bar Association webinar, titled Hurricanes, Floods, and Fires, Oh My!: How to Improve Discovery in a Flood of Post-Disaster Property Insurance Lawsuits, which will also feature IAALS' initial discovery protocols for first-party insurance cases arising from disasters.