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Message from Our Executive Director |
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The legal industry is changing. In some courts, upwards of 80% of civil and family cases involve litigants who are navigating the court system without any form of legal assistance, and research has confirmed that the primary reason is cost. One promising solution is unbundling: attorneys and clients dividing the legal tasks between themselves in order to control the costs of legal assistance. On October 26 and 27, IAALS and the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services are partnering to host a conference to advance efforts toward national, widespread implementation of unbundled legal services. Please join us and others committed to developing actionable strategic plans for implementing, encouraging, and increasing such limited scope representation in jurisdictions around the country.
Rebecca Love Kourlis, IAALS Executive Director
August 2017
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Partner Profile: ABA President Linda Klein
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IAALS simply would not be what it is without the support of our partners and friends. They are essential to our efforts and hail from a wide range of backgrounds, viewpoints, and sectors. Every month, IAALS will shine the spotlight on one such person and take you behind the scenes for a lighthearted profile of someone who is shoulder to shoulder with us.
This month, we profile Linda Klein, President of the American Bar Association, who has some great advice for recent law school graduates. |
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Judging When to Judge:
IAALS' Recommendations for the Judicial Recusal Process
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IAALS’ latest report,
Judicial Recusal Procedures: A Report on the IAALS Convening, was developed to enhance the public’s trust in judges by offering clear recommendations for a recusal process that ensures transparency, fairness, and timeliness.
Judicial Recusal Procedures builds upon the important work of the Conference of Chief Justices and the Brennan Center for Justice, and is the outcome of IAALS’ November 2016 DIAALOGUES convening of stakeholders held in Colorado.
Report co-author Russell Wheeler, President of the Governance Institute and a Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution, said the report "respects the different legal cultures and practices of the states while putting forward a framework for state judiciaries to craft their own policies.”
Read more.
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Call for Ignites!
Share Your Projects and Ideas at the 2017 ETL Conference
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The 6th Annual Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference is right around the corner—October 5-7. It has become tradition to kick off the first day with a series of Ignite presentations, where presenters have 6 minutes, 20 slides, and 18 seconds per slide to share their ideas with a room full of legal educators and employers. All registrants are welcome to present and should contact us for more information.
The theme of this year's conference is Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers... to Serve Tomorrow's Clients. Law schools are uniquely positioned to ensure that new lawyers are not only prepared to enter the profession, but also to
serve clients. The conference will explore client needs; showcase lawyers, organizations, and others leading the way to improved delivery of legal services; and tap into the collective wisdom of innovative legal educators to bring these concepts to life in law schools.
Read more.
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Divorce Out of Court: Exchanging Ideas for the Future
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Too often, an adversarial family court process does not provide the best outcomes for families going through divorce or separation. In contrast, the Center for Out-of-Court Divorce (COCD) in Denver offers proven processes for families that enable better outcomes for children and that provide greater accessibility, efficiency, and fairness for all parties.
IAALS and COCD are hosting a one-day convening in Denver on September 11 to bring together people interested in discussing and learning more about the history, launch, and lessons learned of COCD’s innovative service model for families.
This convening will also foster an engaging exchange of ideas about similar efforts around the country and the sharing of information and experiences regarding out-of-court models for divorce and separation.
Read more.
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Envisioning a Civil Court System that Provides
Justice for All
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The Justice For All project, supported by the Public Welfare Foundation and housed at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), seeks to enhance states’ commitment to reimagining how to work across organizational boundaries and optimize all available resources to advance access to justice for all.
Twenty-five states applied, which illustrates the interest in and commitment across our country to advancing justice for all. Seven states were ultimately selected: Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York.
NCSC is hosting three webinars over the next year to spread information about the Justice for All strategic action planning process more broadly. Non-awardee states will be able to learn from the experiences of awardee states and pose questions.
Read more.
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Australia Could Teach America a Thing or Two about Legal Reform
IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis spent two weeks in Australia in May, meeting Australian judges, lawyers, law professors, deans, and legal service providers. The whole experience confirmed her notion that Australia is leading the way in legal system reform. Read more.
Polish President Vetoes Judiciary Reform Laws, Puts Rule of Law before Rule of Men
In July, tens of thousands of Polish citizens took to the streets—and citizens around the world took to social media—to protest three legislative proposals that would severely impair the independence of Poland’s judiciary and weaken the Rule of Law in the country. Read more.
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