Let's Stop Arguing About Unemployment Rates for New Lawyers and Start Fixing Them

News and Updates
In January, I had the opportunity to present the results of IAALS’ Foundations for Practice study at the Association of American Law Schools’ Annual Meeting as part of the President’s Program. As always, I began my talk by framing the problems we… MORE

Two Federal District Courts Launch Initial Discovery Pilot Projects

News and Updates
This month the Northern District of Illinois launched a three-year pilot project, known as the Mandatory Initial Discovery Pilot Project (MIDP). The pilot project requires robust mandatory initial discovery with the goal of reducing cost and… MORE

IAALS is Growing with Addition of Three New Staff Members

News and Updates
IAALS is expanding: both in terms of our capacity for impact and in the literal expansion of our ranks. Specifically, we are delighted to announce that Managers Nathaniel Baca and Zack DeMeola and Research Assistant James Swearingen joined our… MORE

Divorce Applications in the United Kingdom Are Moving Online

News and Updates
Divorce proceedings are getting a digital makeover in the United Kingdom as Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) prepares to move all divorce applications online. Research to better understand the needs of court users identified the… MORE

Backlog of Immigration Cases Leads to Calls to Make Those Courts Independent of DOJ

News and Updates
As noted by the Miami Herald, the average lifespan of an immigration case in the United States is about three years. Several factors have led to the nation-wide backlog, but many say the most prominent reason is the national shortage of federal… MORE

Australia Could Teach America a Thing or Two about Legal Reform

News and Updates
I spent two weeks in Australia in May, meeting Australian judges, lawyers, law professors, deans, and legal service providers. I spoke at a conference dedicated to examining the role of empirical data in legal system reform, visited two Family… MORE

National Fair Courts Advocate Closes Its Doors

News and Updates
Since its founding in 2001, Justice at Stake was a national leader in the movement to promote fair and impartial courts and increase judicial diversity. But last month, the organization’s leaders announced that Justice at Stake was closing its doors… MORE

Building Benches: Results of Respective Appellate Judicial Selection Methods

News and Updates
Do the methods by which states choose their appellate judges result in benches with different characteristics? A new study concludes that the most distinctive appellate benches are in "merit-confirmation" states, in which the governor's appointment… MORE

Judging When to Judge: IAALS Offers Recommendations to Guide the Judicial Recusal Process

News and Updates
Questions about when judges should recuse themselves from hearing cases—usually because a party perceives their ability to be impartial to be in doubt—have drawn renewed attention recently due to high-profile cases and closely divided U.S.… MORE

Clients First: Placing Legal Consumers at the Center of Legal Education

News and Updates
A couple years ago, IAALS co-sponsored a conference called Client-Centric Legal Services. While there were many interesting takeaways, there was one that I still think about all the time. A speaker suggested that, in legal education, we spend so… MORE