Message from Our Executive Director

Please save the date for our 7th Annual Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Conference—November 1-2. Our theme this year will be "Kickstarting Learning Outcomes for Hire." If the name sounds a little familiar, that's because it is; we first explored these themes two years ago, and now we will discuss how law schools have been kickstarting conversations with their employers to develop learning outcomes and better employment outcomes for their students. The conference will highlight the work of individual schools, educators, and employers who have been working together toward a common goal: the development of successful and effective new lawyers. More information will be available soon. We look forward to seeing you there!

Rebecca Love Kourlis, IAALS Executive Director
June 2018

Partner Profile: Tony Lai
IAALS simply would not be what it is without the support of our partners and friends. This month, we profile Tony Lai, CEO and Co-Founder, Legal.io. 

Tony is one of a kind. He sees the big picture and can envision unique solutions to old problems. His enthusiasm and ideas are boundless, and he knits them all together and is able to see causes and effects. With Tony in our midst, we can expand the reach and possibilities of IAALS’ impact exponentially.

News from IAALS
IAALS Examines the Use of Summary Judgment in
U.S. District Courts

Much has been done over the past five years to address the cost and delay in the civil justice process, and much of that work has focused on discovery. Recognizing that there are equal challenges and opportunities for improvement in the area of motions practice, IAALS has released a new report intended to spark a national conversation about the current challenges of summary judgment.

Efficiency in Motion: Summary Judgment in the U.S. District Courts offers a window into summary judgment practice in America’s federal courts, and our findings suggest the need for identifying and implementing best practices with the goal of greater uniformity and efficiency in our courts. 

Download the report.

Making the Best of
Representing Yourself
in Court

IAALS’ own Natalie Knowlton was recently interviewed for a Chicago Tribune advice column for self-represented litigants about the problems they face and the tools available that can help increase access to justice for those navigating the legal system without a lawyer. About 75 percent of parties in civil cases are self-represented, most commonly in family law and debt cases.

“Judges can only do so much,” Knowlton explained. “They can’t walk a litigant through the process and they can’t present evidence on their behalf. . . . We find many judicial officers not knowing how to handle these situations. The process is really built for attorneys but increasingly it’s not attorneys who are using it.” 

Read more.

The Whole Lawyer:
Small Variations among
Law Firm Sizes

Through our Foundations for Practice project, we surveyed more than 24,000 lawyers about what new lawyers need as they enter the profession. Overall, respondents identified 77 Foundations that practicing lawyers believe new lawyers need right out of law school.

There were a few notable practically significant differences that arose among the various practice settings we studied, including slight variations among different law firm sizes.

In this blog post, we explore the foundations that make up the whole lawyer for each private practice firm size category (from solo to large firms), and the differences as compared with one another and the whole lawyer overall.

Read more.

Chief Justice Proposes
Legal Wayfinders to Assist Litigants in California

In the yearly State of the Judiciary address, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye highlighted some of the ways California is planning to improve access to justice in its courts. Among them: better meeting the needs of self-represented litigants.

Nearly four million Californians go to court without counsel. The Governor’s proposed judiciary budget allots $19 million to improve and expand upon the self-represented litigant services. 

California’s focus on resources to help litigants without lawyers navigate the courts is a call to action that all states should take to heart as a concrete step towards closing the access to justice gap.


Read more.

News Briefs
Experience-Focused 3L Year Could Help New Lawyers in Their Careers:
The Young Lawyer Editorial Board of The American Lawyer recently called out a growing disconnect between the skills and training law students are receiving and the tasks new lawyers are asked to complete in practice. Read more.
Get Involved
IAALS is a national, independent research center dedicated to facilitating continuous improvement and advancing excellence in the American legal system. Our mission is to forge innovative and practical solutions to problems in our system in collaboration with the best minds in the country.
Engage—Connect—Invest
in the Future of the American Legal System
Website
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Email
RSS
View this email in your browser
You are receiving this email because of your relationship with IAALS. Please reconfirm your interest in receiving emails from us. If you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe here.

2060 South Gaylord Way, Denver, CO, 80208


Update Profile/Email Address