Reforming Our Civil Justice System: A Report on Progress and Promise

Since 2007, IAALS and the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice have partnered to study cost and delay in America’s civil justice system, and propose solutions.

One of the major themes that emerged was that our civil justice system is indeed plagued with cost and delay, making the system inaccessible for many and inefficient for all. In 2009, IAALS and the Task Force jointly published a Final Report, which included proposed Principles for responding to these problems and improving our civil justice system. IAALS and the Task Force have collaborated over the years on a number of additional publications, continuing to make joint recommendations for the improvement of the overall system.

In 2015, IAALS and the Task Force finished their re-evaluation of the proposed Principles in light of the pilot project and rule reform experiences around the country since 2009, and issued a new report with 24 proposed Principles to guide future innovation. The Principles call for a sharp realignment of the discovery process and greater court resources to manage cases.