Judicial leadership guidance provides practical strategies and resources for court transformationIAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, and the Berkeley Judicial Institute (BJI)—with support from the State Justice Institute—today released A Blueprint for Judicial Innovation, which details takeaways from Advancing Innovation: A National Summit on Judicial Leadership. The publication distills insights from a national gathering…
Continue Reading A Blueprint for Judicial Innovation: New Report Calls on Judges to Lead System Change

On September 26-27, the Fordham University School of Law and New York University School of Law hosted the International Access to Justice Forum 2025 in New York City. The forum gathered experts from across the globe to share their research and developments in the advancement of civil justice—and IAALS led discussions with presentations from Director of Research Logan Cornett and…
Continue Reading IAALS Brings Research and AI Leadership to International Access to Justice Forum

Philanthropic support enables IAALS to deliver people-centered, practical justice reforms nationwide. To power this ability, we’re welcoming a proven leader to guide our development strategy and deepen our relationships with supporters and donors across the country.At the end of September, Scott Patton joined IAALS as our new Director of Development. “Over the last 20 years, IAALS has established itself as…
Continue Reading Elevating Our Impact with New Development Leadership

The Above the Line Network (ATLN) has launched the ATLN Hub, a new website that provides an online home for the growing community of leaders working together to make legal services more affordable for everyday people. The Hub is a centralized place where members can connect, collaborate, and share valuable tools and resources. It will also serve as an…
Continue Reading Introducing the Above the Line Network Hub for Middle-Market Legal Innovators

In 2020, the Utah Supreme Court launched the nation’s first legal regulatory sandbox. The Sandbox was designed to open the door to new kinds of legal service providers and business structures, including entities with nonlawyer ownership and nonlawyer practitioners, who could offer legal services under close regulatory oversight. The core question driving this initiative was straightforward but profound: Can we…
Continue Reading Utah’s Sandbox: Interim Reports and the Case for Evaluation

Like many states across the country, Indiana is experiencing an attorney shortage—there are not enough attorneys licensed to practice law in Indiana to serve every Hoosier who needs legal help. These shortages adversely affect access to justice, economic and workforce development, and the civic health of communities. Where it involves shortages of prosecutors and public defenders, it is a public…
Continue Reading ATLN Supports Advancing Alternative Fee Structures in Indiana

On September 16, members of the IAALS Lawyers Council gathered in downtown Denver to discuss the growing momentum of alternative business structures with Arizona Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer and Jess Bednarz, IAALS’ Director of Legal Services and the Profession.  Arizona is on the frontlines of this movement, and Chief Justice Timmer talked about how alternative business structures have…
Continue Reading Lawyers Council Explores Legal Innovation with Arizona Chief Justice Timmer

Two hundred thirty-eight years ago, the Constitution gave us a framework for our nation, providing a critical system of checks and balances among the branches of government and assuring basic individual liberties that are essential to our free and democratic society. Perhaps most importantly on Constitution Day, when the tendency is to wax poetic regarding the historic significance of our…
Continue Reading Constitution Day 2025: Finding Your Role in Preserving Democracy

IAALS is excited to announce that nominations are now open for the 2026 Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award. The sixth annual award recognizes national innovators who have made significant impacts early in their legal careers toward making the American legal system work better for everyone. Nominations will be accepted through November 1, 2025, and the award will be presented…
Continue Reading Nomination Window Opens to Award the 2026 Legal Visionary

The Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform (CLEAR) recently released a high-profile report exploring why the legal profession is struggling to meet the needs of the majority of Americans. In this report, CLEAR points to four IAALS projects—Building a Better Bar, Foundations for Practice, Think Like a Client, and our former Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers initiative—to…
Continue Reading Research to Reform: IAALS Sets the Standard in CLEAR’s National Blueprint for Change

In the last month I had the privilege of attending the World Justice Forum 2025: “Standing Up for the Rule of Law” in Warsaw, Poland. The Forum was a gathering of global leaders, jurists, and human rights champions who came together to confront the rising tide of authoritarianism and reverse the global rule of law recession. In a city with…
Continue Reading Global Voices for Justice: Takeaways from the World Justice Forum 2025

Continue Reading IAALS Charts a Bold Path for AI in Legal Services Regulation

Continue Reading New IAALS Report Sets National Vision for Allied Legal Professionals via Reciprocity