Public Trust And Confidence

IAALS continues its commitment to ensuring fair, impartial, transparent, and accessible courts through JPE 2.0—a project that will help programs assessing the job performance of judges update their approaches to reflect modern realities, while remaining accurate, trusted, and relevant.

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the World Justice Forum, held in The Hague. Participants gathered from 116 countries to discuss the deepening inequities in our world, the access to justice crisis, and the fragility of our justice systems. Despite the weightiness of the agenda and moment we find ourselves in, my takeaway was one of hope and resolve. 

This week, IAALS Interim CEO Brittany Kauffman and Director of Research Logan Cornett will attend the World Justice Forum, discussing US Justice Needs and the importance of people-centered data when creating and implementing justice reforms.

Last week, IAALS gathered with our partners and friends for our 14th Annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner. We were thrilled to welcome people back in person after three years to celebrate this year’s honorees, as well as recognize our collective efforts to build a more accessible, fair, and efficient civil justice system.

This year, the ABA marks Law Day 2022 with the theme of "Toward a More Perfect Union: The Constitution in Times of Change." Today, we should reflect on the shortcomings of our justice system and worry about the threats to democracy and the rule of law. But we should also celebrate the strides that have been made and the promise ahead.

Our final two Paths to Justice events, focused on racial justice, brought together diverse perspectives and partners to engage in a dialogue around inequities in our civil justice system and how it relates to public trust and confidence. IAALS has published two issue papers highlighting outcomes and key takeaways for the paths forward.

IAALS is awarding Rohan Pavuluri, CEO and co-founder of Upsolve, the second annual Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award. “IAALS is thrilled to present Rohan with this award, recognizing his efforts to shake up the status quo and push the boundaries of our justice system,” said David Yellen, CEO of IAALS.

After a year of collaboration and innovation, IAALS Board of Advisors member Andrew Arruda has completed his term as our first entrepreneur-in-residence. We are deeply grateful to Arruda for his tireless work and invaluable expertise over this past year—and for everything he’s done to move our mission forward.

This comment was submitted to the State Bar of California in support of the proposed Paraprofessional Program, which would authorize paraprofessionals to provide legal advice in areas such as family, consumer debt, landlord/tenant, employment/income, and collateral criminal cases, as well as represent parties in court (excluding jury trials).

Professor Anna Carpenter discusses her passion for access to justice, exciting developments in legal innovation, and what it means to receive the inaugural Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award.