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Going through divorce is often a turbulent time for families, particularly when children are involved. However, parents, practitioners, and courts can adopt more mindful approaches that prioritize children’s well-being and help families find smoother processes through difficult changes.Recent attention has been directed towards child-centered divorce practices, which put divorce’s effects on children in focus and build divorce strategies that minimize
Continue Reading A Focus on Child-Centered Divorce and Better Family Outcomes

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), today announced a new joint project—Foundations 2.0—designed to provide a comprehensive updated view of the skills and competencies new lawyers need to succeed and serve clients well in the rapidly evolving legal profession. The Foundations 2.0 project represents a major update of IAALS’
Continue Reading IAALS and LSAC to Develop Updated Model of Lawyer Skills and Competencies

On January 4, 2024, the North Carolina Justice for All Project (JFAP) filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the state of North Carolina claiming unlawful infringement upon their fundamental right of free speech to provide simple legal advice to North Carolinians. While this lawsuit isn’t the first or even second step by JFAP to improve access to justice in North
Continue Reading The North Carolina Justice for All Project: From Foundation to First Amendment Lawsuit

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, has conceptualized regulatory models as consisting of four pathways to change: regulatory sandboxes, alternative business structures, allied legal professionals, and community-based justice worker models.(1) According to IAALS, a community-based justice worker model “involve[s] training and certifying individuals working at community-based organizations to offer legal advice and services in certain
Continue Reading The Diverse Landscape of Community-Based Justice Workers

At its December 15, 2023, meeting, the Texas Access to Justice Commission invited members of the bar and the public to share comments on the report and recommendations its Access to Legal Services Working Group released ten days earlier. The comprehensive 250-page report includes the group’s charge from the Supreme Court of Texas—to focus on helping low-income Texans—an overview
Continue Reading Texas Proposal to Expand Legal Access Exposes Opponents' Reliance on False Narratives

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, announced today that it is awarding Eduardo Gonzalez, Program Officer for Civil Justice at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the fourth annual Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award. The award is designed to encourage and showcase innovators, risk takers, visionaries, and emerging leaders who bring a
Continue Reading Eduardo Gonzalez Named 2024 Recipient of IAALS’ Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award

In the fall of 2021, IAALS launched a virtual summit series, Paths to Justice, to underscore not only the challenges of the moment but also the substantial opportunities for systemic change. The series was comprised of multiple invite-only virtual convenings as well as a series of webinars focusing on the paths of the pandemic, the paths to access, and
Continue Reading Centering Our System Around Clear Paths to Justice

An important addition to the national access to justice landscape, the Above the Line Network (ATLN) has launched today to tackle the daunting challenges that middle-class Americans face when seeking legal help that doesn’t break the bank. While most organized access to justice efforts rightly focus on low-income and poor people who are especially vulnerable, we can never achieve our
Continue Reading Innovative New Project Launches to Increase Access to Justice for the Overlooked Middle Class

January is Child-Centered Divorce Awareness Month, highlighting the impact that divorce can have on children and emphasizing the need for a more child-centric approach to the separation process. This month serves as a reminder for lawyers, judges, other legal professionals, and parents alike to prioritize the well-being and emotional health of children during divorce proceedings. Divorce is a challenging experience
Continue Reading IAALS Resources Reflect Importance of Centering Children in Divorce Proceedings

As we jump into 2024, IAALS is profoundly grateful for the unwavering dedication and support of our partners and colleagues. We’re inspired by the remarkable people working alongside us to create transformative change in our civil justice system. Last year brought significant advancements on various fronts of justice—and IAALS is proud to have played a pivotal role. In just one example,
Continue Reading 2023 Impact Recap and the Path to Transformative Change

This month, Oregon will join an increasing number of states licensing paralegals and other legal professionals who are not attorneys to provide discrete legal services in family and landlord/tenant law, which was previously only provided in Oregon by licensed lawyers. These professionals will be called Licensed Paralegals (“LPs” for short), though you can find them referenced by a myriad
Continue Reading The Role of the Committee of Paralegal Assessors for Oregon Licensed Paralegals

Last month, for the first time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court adopted a code of ethics. The code specifies that justices should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary; avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety; perform their duties fairly, impartially, and diligently; engage in extrajudicial activities that are consistent with the obligations of the judicial office;
Continue Reading The Supreme Court’s Code of Ethics and the Road Ahead

To say that Sandra Day O’Connor fundamentally changed the legal landscape for good is really only a beginning, not a summation, of the contributions she made.A daughter of the West, her first job after graduating from high school two years early and Stanford Law School at a breathtaking two-year clip was to work as an unpaid county attorney. She turned
Continue Reading Sandra Day O'Connor: The Consummate Cowgirl

We at IAALS are among the many saddened by the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. A trailblazer in many regards, Justice O’Connor left an indelible legacy on our judicial system: one committed to fairness, equality, and the rule of law over gender or background, and to always seeking consensus, however divisive the issue.Born in 1930 in
Continue Reading IAALS Honors Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Commits to Carrying on her Legacy

Judicial performance evaluation (JPE) programs have existed across the U.S. for almost 50 years and were designed to assess the job performance of judges. These assessments center not on case outcomes but rather on desirable judicial qualities: legal knowledge, impartiality, written and oral communication, judicial temperament, and administrative capacity. All JPE programs share the goal of helping judges improve at
Continue Reading The Future of Judicial Performance Evaluation: Reinvigorating a Cornerstone of Public Trust