News & Updates

Many states, including California, are exploring regulatory reform as a means through which to drive innovation in the legal services sector and increase access to justice. The public is rarely involved in these discussions, however, and the critical consumer perspective is missing.

Our legal system needs leaders and visionaries in these trying times—and IAALS seeks the same. In order to ensure the leadership over our work continues, we recently retained a renowned global search firm to help us find the best and most diverse possible candidates for the CEO job. We welcome your help in finding someone to lead IAALS into its next chapter. 

Texas has recently completed an extensive review of their court operations and has proposed new recommendations for resuming jury trials during the pandemic, and is among numerous states and jurisdictions working to reinvent what jury trials look like, both in-person and virtual.

The legal profession is fraught with systemic barriers to entry that form ripple effects on the road to becoming a lawyer. The pathway is much like narrow pipeline—entry is limited and every segment is springing leaks, disproportionately affecting people of color along the way—creating a profession that is among the least diverse in the country.

On the heels of the third and final phase of the three-year project, this week the Family Justice Initiative is launching new web pages and an online report to support state courts’ efforts to develop and implement plans to improve justice for families.

On September 25, IAALS hosted a virtual donor appreciation reception. Our organization wouldn’t be what it is without the generosity and support of our extraordinary, visionary donors, and we’re grateful to everyone as we work toward justice we can believe in.

Last month, the Arizona Supreme Court voted unanimously to eliminate its ethics rules barring nonlawyers from having an economic interest in law firms or participating in fee-sharing, and streamlined advertising rules. The court also approved the licensing of “Legal Paraprofessionals," who will be able to represent clients in court.

September 17 marks Constitution Day, commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Today, IAALS looks back on a series of perspectives we published in 2016—authored by leaders across our government, judiciary, and legal profession—which are grounded in a belief that an independent judiciary is crucial to both the rule of law and the functioning of our democratic republic.

In a recent op-ed, IAALS Founding Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch commend recent legal regulatory reforms in Utah and Arizona and call for more states across the country to make similar bold changes.

Dedicated judges, attorneys, and court administrators have the power to establish justice in our modern time. By gathering the input of those who use the court system, who rely on it to decide some of the most important issues in our lives—like divorce and child custody—we help ensure that the courts function in a way that serves all of us.

Judges must be held accountable for conduct that violates their codes of conduct and governing laws. A recent Reuters report on judicial misconduct, while not quite comprehensive, is an important reminder that we need to know more about this topic that is arguably central to public trust and confidence and—more importantly—justice and the rule of law.

IAALS' Law Jobs: By the Numbers tool, an effort to provide a new perspective on law school rankings, will sunset in September 2020. The project was an integral part of our journey to our current work, empowering many across the country to build, analyze, and compare employment outcomes among law schools, with over 116,000 calculations being made since launching in 2013.

After COVID-19 and the social unrest around racial equity, our world will never be the same. We have a duty to ensure that we learn from this season of change and to use the knowledge we have gained to create a better world. To do so, we must be guided by data and evidence—and we must improve our data and research practices.

On August 20, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law co-hosted a virtual discussion with Rohan Pavuluri, Andrea S. Jarmon, and Andrew Arruda, who covered issues of racial injustice in both legal education and the profession, as well as what regulatory reform actually looks like in action.

The public knows the reality of how the justice system functions today. It is we who are now catching on. The call has never been louder for court leaders and system stakeholders to accept and admit some hard truths. It is time that we look inward and take responsibility for those aspects of the system that are failing.

IAALS and HiiL recently launched the largest-ever survey of its kind as part of their US Justice Needs project. This survey will reach people across all regions of the United States, including urban and rural areas and people who have not historically been included, and seek to uncover their experiences in accessing justice when they need it.

The Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation Task Force on the Sustainable Practice of Law and Innovation is one of the latest groups to issue a set of recommendations that seek to address the growing disconnect between the public’s legal needs and the lawyers who can serve them. The task force is accepting public comment on these recommendations through August 21.

Last week, in a historic vote, the Utah Supreme Court voted unanimously to establish a regulatory sandbox for nontraditional legal services providers in order to address the state’s access to justice crisis. These rule changes will allow individuals and entities to explore creative ways to safely allow the practice of law and reduce constraints on how lawyers market and promote their services.

The Stanford Legal Design Lab's Legal Help FAQs is a central national platform where people can find information on eviction (and related issues) and links to resources that are specific to their area. This work represents an important step forward in the movement to make relevant legal information more readily accessible and understandable to those who need it. 

​Last month, the National Center for State Courts released their 2020 Trends in State Courts, which includes discussion of the Family Justice Initiative and its Principles for Family Justice Reform. The principles emphasize problem solving and cooperation between parties—especially when children are involved.