Announcements

IAALS and the NCSC have finalized a three-year project with the release of their new report highlighting the experiences of four states—Idaho, Maine, Missouri, and Texas—as they worked to implement change in their courts. The recommendations can provide critical support to courts facing unprecedented need for change during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People look to our legal system for help in matters that affect their rights, their families, their businesses, and the most intimate aspects of their lives. But, for too long and for too many, the courthouse doors seem closed—and justice out of reach. IAALS is changing that. We are proud to present you with our 2019 Annual Report, which highlights our work and accomplishments toward ensuring that everyone has access to justice we can believe in.

IAALS’ Court Compass project is all about incorporating user-centric design into courts’ reform process to engage and empower litigants in creating solutions and to help improve their trust and confidence in the legal system. The results of IAALS’ model workshops were just released in a new report, titled Redesigning Divorce: User-Driven Design for a Better Process.

In partnership with national experts, IAALS has developed three new guides to support real change in state courts. Stemming from our work on the Civil Justice Initiative and Family Justice Initiative, the guides are designed to assist in creating effective self-help information for those who need it, developing problem-solving approaches for families in court, and providing insight for judges who interface with self-represented litigants.

The American legal profession is at a crossroads. We cannot continue to expect people to confront legal problems without legal advice. IAALS’ new Unlocking Legal Regulation project is taking a bold step forward and laying the foundation for a consumer- and people-centered legal regulatory system that opens the door for more service providers, more legal services, and more sustainable practices in the marketplace.

What is it that clients value in, and want from, their lawyers? How does a lawyer meet the requirements of their clients? This information has traditionally been gathered informally and only shared internally within offices that collect client feedback. To address this gap in our understanding, IAALS partnered with Avvo to create Think Like a Client. This report uses an evidence-based approach to illuminate clients' preferences, needs, and expectations when working with their attorneys, providing valuable and much-needed insight into how lawyers can better serve their clients.

In the first-ever, broad-based research of its kind, IAALS is partnering with HiiL to assess the justice needs of people and businesses in the United States. The issue of access to justice is broader and deeper in our society than has historically been recognized. What we learn will provide the insight we need to reform the American legal system and tailor services to meet the needs of all users.

As thousands prepare to sit for the bar exam, IAALS is spearheading an empirical effort to define the minimum competence they need to practice law and to ensure the fairness, efficacy, and validity of the bar exam itself.

IAALS is pleased to announce that Kelsey Montague has joined the organization as its new Associate Director of Marketing and Public Relations. Kelsey has spent her career developing robust marketing and media campaigns and social media strategies to help raise awareness and foster impact.

It is no secret that divorce poses significant problems for those who go through the legal process. The adversarial nature of the legal process can put people at odds with one another and the courts are not well-positioned to provide emotional and future-planning support. IAALS has released a new report detailing the evaluation of our out-of-court model aimed at addressing these challenges for families with children.