msuhr, Author at Center on the Legal Profession

July 8, 2025

Posted on July 9, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

Multiple outlets are reporting on a trial court order that is based off AI-hallucinated case law: Above the Law, Chattanooga Times Free Press, The Volokh Conspiracy. [7/1, 7/6 & 7/3]
Steven Lerner in Law360 Pulse explores the make vs. buy decision facing legal departments looking to adopt AI. [6/27]
Attendees at the International Conference on AI and Law’s workshop on A2J and AI are releasing their recaps and takeaways, including Suffolk University Law School’s LIT Lab and the Stanford Legal Design Lab. [6/24 & 6/25]
The NCSC Court Statistics Project and TRI/NCSC AI Policy Consortium consider whether generative AI tools are likely to increase case filings in high-volume dockets. [6/24]
LawSites reports that Puerto Rico has adopted a duty of tech competence for lawyers, setting forth these requirements in a separate rule (1.19) as opposed to inserting a comment to Rule 1.1, as the ABA and other states have done. [6/18] Stephen Embry in Above the Law suggests that this standalone-rule approach is more appropriate than the prevailing approach given the foundational role of technology in legal services. [6/24]
The Harvard A2J Lab provides an update on the OpenJustice project, which addresses whether AI allows volunteer pro bono attorneys and staff to provide legal information and advice more effectively than in settings where AI assistance is not used. [6/23]

The Associated Press reports that a UK judge has warned that attorneys could be prosecuted, with a maximum sentence of life in prison, if they don’t check the accuracy of their AI-assisted research. [6/7]

Regulatory Innovation

The 40.8% excise tax on litigation funding proceedings, proposed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was ultimately left out of the Senate’s final version, the Daily Journal and ABA Journal report. [7/7 & 7/1]
Rhode Center Co-Director and Stanford Law School Profession David Freeman Engstrom appears on LSC’s Talk Justice podcast to discuss a recent Rhode Center report on regulatory innovation. [6/24]
Puerto Rico has amended its rule of professional conduct to allow for nonlawyer ownership of law firms, LawSites, Law.com, Bloomberg Law, and ABA Journal report. [6/19, 6/23, 6/24 & 6/25]
IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System has released new recommendations for how states can enable allied legal professionals to transfer their credentials across state lines. [6/18]
Nicole Miller, Chief Legal Officer of LegalZoom, appears on the ABA Journal: Legal Rebels podcast discussing the company’s move into the Arizona ABS market. [6/11]

Courts, Rules & Access to Justice

Denverite reports on a peer navigator program in Denver County Court that employs people who have lived experience to help individuals through the justice process. [7/8]
Members of NCSC’s Access to Justice team discuss a partnership with the American Arbitration Association and the Court of Common Pleas in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to develop software (the Court Diversion Eligibility Screener) for a credit card debt diversion program. [6/25]
Bar advocates in Massachusetts are refusing to take additional court-appointed cases, leaving hundreds in jail with no lawyer assigned to their case, the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ press release notes. [6/9] The ABA Journal also reports. [6/16]
Bolts Magazine reports on how Louisiana’s Justices of the Peace can take home eviction fees as salary; a recent lawsuit is challenging that rule. [6/6]
The NCSC 2024 Annual Report is out.
Katherine Alteneder Mills, Director Emerita of the Self-Represented Litigation Network (now the a2jnetwork) appears on The Court ODR Podcast discussing the importance of language in justice matters.

The Profession

In the UK, employers will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence employees who have been subjected to harassment and abuse, The Guardian reports. [7.7]
The ABA Journal reports that some legal academics are worried that the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ “blueprint” for the NextGen UBE leaves out critical pieces of information that bar takers need before the first test administration in July 2026. [6/30]
Law360 reports on the Pro Bono Institute’s 2024 Corporate Pro Bono Challenge in which participation among legal staff decreased to 31%. [6/27]
The Law School Admission Council and IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System are surveying lawyers on the skills and competencies that new lawyers need to be practice ready and effective, ABA Journal reports. [6/12]
NPR continues its investigation into misconduct in the federal judiciary and the difficulties associated with holding judges accountable for sexual assaults, bullying, and discrimination. [6/9]

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on June 3, 2025June 10, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

Damien Charlotin has compiled a database tracking legal decisions in cases where generative AI produced hallucinated content. [ongoing]
Judge David L. Horan (N.D.T.X.) issued a Standing Order Regarding Use of Artificial Intelligence. [5/15/25]
The AI pilot lead at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts is exploring how district courts are using AI, FedScoop reports. [5/6/25]
Law.com reports on Garfield.Law, the first AI-driven law firm to receive regulated legal service authorization in England and Wales. [5/14/25]

Regulatory Innovation

The Rhode Center released a new study on the Utah legal regulatory sandbox and the Arizona Alternative Business Structure program, Law360 reports. [6/2/25]
The Regulatory Review is publishing a series of essays on recent efforts by the Administrative Conference of the United States to support nonlawyer representation and assistance in federal agency proceedings. [6/2/25]

Courts, Rules & Access to Justice

The Kansas Judicial Branch launched a new virtual self-help center. [6/2/25]
The State Bar of California has published an updated justice gap study, Law360 reports. [5/30/25]
A recent episode of Talk Justice podcast covers the Legal Services Corporation research brief “The Economic Case for Civil Legal Aid.” [5/27/25]
The American Bar Foundation Access to Justice Initiative published “State of the Art in Civil Legal Needs Surveys: A Comparative Perspective.” [5/25]
Matt Reynolds writes in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the rise of corporate landlords. [5/20/25]
The Pew Charitable Trusts surveyed states to identify whether and how court date reminders were being used across the country. [5/12/25]
Cuts to the AmeriCorps program are impacting some court self-help programs, WGLT reports. [4/29/25]

The Profession

The ABA Journal reports on challenges that women face in the legal profession. [6/1/25]
The Nevada Supreme Court approved a three-prong bar exam to launch in 2027, the ABA Journal reports. [5/28/25]
Law360 reports that the California Bar has formally asked the California Supreme Court to approve a provisional licensure program in response to the February bar exam debacle. [5/27/25]
Illinois will move to the NextGen bar exam beginning in 2028, 2civility reports.
IAALS at the University of Denver launched a study to explore how different licensure pathways measure and uphold minimum competency in the legal profession. [5/13/25]

The ABA Journal reports that the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions is considering a proposal that would increase required experiential learning credit hours. [5/12/25]

Rhode Center Student Fellows Jessica Wang and Brian Xu Awarded the 2025 Susman Godfrey Prize

Posted on May 19, 2025May 21, 2025 by msuhr

Rhode Center Civil Justice Student Fellows Jessica Wang and Brian Xu have been awarded the 2025 Susman Godfrey Prize, which the law firm awards annually to students of color who have demonstrated excellence and overall achievement. They are two of only 25 winners from law schools across the country and will each receive a prize of $4,000 and ongoing mentorship from Susman Godfrey’s partners and associates.

“I am so honored to be a part of this amazing cohort,” Jessica said. “I’m grateful to the Rhode Center for giving me opportunities to work on the causes that brought me to law school, and to Professor David Freeman Engstrom in particular for nominating me for the Susman Godfrey Prize. I look forward to making the most of the Susman Godfrey community’s mentorship, and paying it forward to future cohorts.”

Reflecting on his selection, Brian shared that “the Rhode Center has been such an integral part of my law school experience, and I am especially grateful to Professor David Freeman Engstrom for nominating me for the Susman Godfrey Prize. I am excited to meet the other members of my cohort, and I am looking forward to connecting with the rest of the Susman Godfrey community later this summer.”

As Student Fellows, Jessica and Brian have played integral roles in the Rhode Center’s work. Jessica has been a key player in a cutting-edge Center project to expand the assistance that court staff provide to self-represented litigants in navigating potentially life-altering cases. She is also an editor on the Stanford Law Review, a member of Stanford’s Religious Liberty Clinic, and has been active in the Housing Pro Bono Project. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Rhetoric from UC Berkeley, where she researched access to civil justice.

Brian has been deeply involved in the Center’s collaboration with the Los Angeles Superior Court, particularly in identifying ways to help pro se litigants navigate the court system. Outside of the Center, Brian is an editor on the Stanford Law Review, a Harry Bremond Fellow at the Stanford Center for Racial Justice, and a co-director of the Workers’ Rights Pro Bono Project. He earned a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and is pursuing a concurrent Master of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Camp Lejeune and Veterans’ Fight for Government Accountability

Posted on May 14, 2025May 16, 2025 by msuhr

By Owen Foulkes, Rhode Center Civil Justice Fellow
On April 28, the Rhode Center co-hosted a lunch talk with Elizabeth Cabraser and Annie Wanless of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, co-lead counsel in the sprawling litigation over harms from toxic water at Camp Lejeune. Their message was clear: This case is about more than the law. It’s about institutional responsibility and whether the justice system can deliver for those it has long ignored.

From 1953 to 1987, the drinking water at Camp Lejeune—a major Marine Corps base in North Carolina—was laced with highly toxic chemicals. The contamination affected not just service members, but their families and civilian workers. Although the government discovered the contamination in 1982, it failed to notify those exposed until years later, after North Carolina’s statute of repose had expired. For many, the truth came too late.

In response, Congress passed the bipartisan Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) in 2022. The law created a new federal cause of action allowing anyone exposed to contaminated water at the base for 30 days or more to bring suit against the federal government after first filing an administrative claim with the Navy. Critically, it lowered the standard of proof: Plaintiffs need only show that their condition was at least as likely as not caused by the contamination. Though the window to file claims closed in August 2024, more than 400,000 were submitted. Roughly 3,000 lawsuits are now pending in the Eastern District of North Carolina, where the court has grouped diseases into tracks and selected bellwether plaintiffs, in a process modeled loosely on multi-district litigation.

As Elizabeth Cabraser put it, the CLJA is “a quilt”—a statute stitched together from elements of federal tort law, administrative procedure, and environmental regulation. But while the law was designed to remove barriers, litigation challenges remain. Expert discovery is underway, with both sides preparing for Daubert hearings to determine which expert testimony will be admitted. In a twist, the government is now challenging studies conducted by its own agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), that linked water contamination to many serious illnesses. Another battle looms over the right to a jury trial. Although the CLJA says nothing in it “shall impair” that right, courts so far have ruled that plaintiffs are not entitled to jury trials. A petition for certiorari is now pending before the Supreme Court to reverse those rulings.

Behind the thousands of claims are aging veterans and family members, many of whom lack the resources, health, and time for a prolonged process. Litigating against the federal government brings distinct hurdles: Unlike corporate defendants, the government isn’t influenced by market pressures or standard reputational risk. This slows settlement negotiations and reduces transparency. Although Congress envisioned swift relief, few individual settlement offers have been made. A global framework is supposed to be ready by year’s end—but for many claimants, time is running out.

For the law students in the audience, Cabraser and Wanless offered a lesson in the real-world challenges of complex litigation. Camp Lejeune raises complex questions about how our legal system handles historical harm, scientific uncertainty, and government accountability. Whether or not the CLJA fulfills its promise, the litigation is already shaping how the next generation of advocates will think about civil justice.

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on May 13, 2025June 9, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

The U.K.’s Solicitors Regulation Authority has authorized the first law firm providing legal services through AI. [5/6/25]
The New York Times reports on generative AI hallucinations as a feature not a bug–and one that’s here to stay. [5/5/25]
The U.S. Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules voted 8-1 to seek public comment on a draft rule intended to ensure that evidence produced by generative AI meets the same reliability standards as evidence from human expert witnesses. [5/2/25]

Regulatory Innovation

Pro Bono Institute writes about Arizona’s community justice workers and legal advocates in Arizona. [5/13/25]
Frontline Justice has developed a platform for community justice workers. [5/12/25]
The Financial Times (paywall) reports on the anti-ABS legislation making its way through the California Legislature. [5/11/25]
Robert Rath, Chief Innovation Officer of the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration, details the regulatory innovation options under consideration in Indiana. [5/5/25]
A recording is available of the first webinar in a three-part series on UPL, hosted by IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, and Duke Center on Law & Tech. [5/5/25]

Courts, Rules & Access to Justice

A poll conducted by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce found, among other things, that respondents overwhelmingly (91%) support reminders for court dates, The Carolina Journal reports. [5/13/25]
Mark Palmer of 2Civility explores Illinois’s legal desert crisis. [5/9/25]
A new eviction sealing law went into effect in Massachusetts, NBC Boston reports. [5/5/25]
Researchers from George Washington University, Yale, Princeton, and others released a comprehensive study of right to counsel laws, Law360 reports. [4/28/25]

The Profession

Reuters reports that the California Bar is considering whether to expand a COVID-era provisional licensure program to aspiring lawyers who withdrew from or failed the troubled February exam. [5/12/25]
An article in CNN explores the political viability of pro bono. [5/7/25]
The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is recommending that the suspension of the diversity standard should be extended, ABA Journal reports. [5/5/25]
May 5-9 was ABA Well-Being in Law week, and the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs offered various resources for legal professionals.
The Texas Supreme Court is accepting comments through July 1 on whether to do away with the requirement that lawyers in the state graduate from an ABA accredited law school.

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on May 6, 2025June 4, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

The New York Times reports (among other outlets) on the State Bar of California’s use of AI to develop bar exam questions and other testing breakdowns in the most recent test administration. [4/30/25]
LawNext reports that D.C. adopted an ethical duty of technology competence for lawyers just days after the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to do so. [4/24/25]

Regulatory Innovation

Michael Houlberg of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System writes in Law360 about Allied Legal Professional programs in the states. [4/23/25]

Courts, Rules & Access to Justice

The Massachusetts Trial Court launched a guided interview for Petitions to Seal Eviction Records, developed in partnership with Suffolk University Law School. [5/5/25]
Lester Bird, at The Pew Charitable Trusts, published a piece that includes several recommendations for policymakers interested in reforming debt collection lawsuits for people without lawyers. [5/1/25]
Margaret Hagan at the Stanford Legal Design Lab and co-authors released an article exploring avenues through which the federal government might work to improve renters’ stability. [4/24/25]
The Superior Court of San Bernardino County partnered with the county Public Defender’s Office to create the Mobile Defense Program–dispatching RVs to isolated areas to facilitate litigant appearance in remote hearings. [4/23/25]

The Profession

Connecticut is exploring a plan to allow attorneys to earn CLE credits by providing pro bono legal services, Law360 reports. [5/5/25]
The ABA Journal reports on the drop in overall pass rates as reported by many states for the February exam. [5/1/25]
The April 2025 edition of the ABA Law Practice Division’s Law Practice Today is dedicated to attorney well-being. [4/25]
In a move away from the billable hour, the Illinois Supreme Court adopted a rule (effective July 1, 2025) clarifying that fee petitions can be based on any fee agreement, with limited exceptions, that is reasonable under the circumstances. [4/1/25]

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on April 22, 2025June 4, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

A New York City Bar Association podcast explores the partnership between Microsoft and the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project to streamline and scale the DACA renewal process for Dreamers. [4/17/25]
RAILS (Responsible AI in Legal Services) at Duke Law has compiled a table of resources on access to justice, tech innovation, and regulation. [4/14/25]
A self-represented litigant deployed an AI avatar in a prerecorded video presentation before an appellate panel of New York State judges, the New York Times reports. Fortune also reports. [4/4/25] An article in Business Insider (paywall) reports on the fallout. [4/11/25]
An article in Forbes covers the Stanford CodeX and DLA Piper Law Track Conference of the UN AI For Good global platform. [4/10/25]
The Georgetown University Law Center’s Global Perspectives on AI and the Law talks are now live. [3/19/25]

Regulatory Innovation

California Assembly Bill 931 on consumer legal funding has moved out of the Assembly and been referred to committee in the Senate. [4/21/25]
The UPL lawsuit against LegalZoom is heading to arbitration, Law360 reports. [4/17/25]
An article by Joanna Goodman in the Law Society Gazette discusses ongoing conversations about legal regulation and legal culture in response to the Post Office scandal and other high-profile incidents involving lawyers. [4/11/25]
An ABA Journal article covers a discussion at ABA Midyear on regulatory innovation and the efforts undertaken in Arizona. [4/10/25]
Law360 reports (paywall) that KPMG and Google Cloud are partnering to co-develop offerings for AI-assisted contract review, research, and document analysis for KPMG Law US, operating as an alternative business structure in Arizona. [4/9/25]

Courts, Rules & Access to Justice

The Texas House of Representatives Family & Fiduciary Relationships Subcommittee is considering HB 3819 that would require probate courts to allow parties to appear remotely for hearings in uncontested cases. [4/22/25]
A New York Times Magazine article explores the human face of unrepresented litigation. [4/17/25]
A recap and the recording of Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession’s conference “Inequality, Access to Justice, and the Rule of Law” is now available. Rhode Center Co-Director David Freeman Engstrom leads a panel discussion on The Future of Access to Justice. [4/11/25]
Bob Ambrogi covers the recent release of the Stanford and LA Superior Court project report, on LawSites. [4/10/25]
The National Center for State Courts has released a Tiny Chat on Referrals.
Rhode Center Co-Director Nora Freeman Engstrom appears on Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything Podcast to discuss the civil justice gap. [4/4/25]
A new project has launched that is exploring how a range of funding models might be deployed to support the work of U.K. organizations providing free legal advice; the research is a collaboration between the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, the Access to Justice Foundation, and the University of Surrey. [4/1/25]

The Profession

Researchers from the Australian National University and University of Melbourne published findings from a survey on lawyer wellbeing, workplace incivility, and ethics. [4/16/25]

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on April 8, 2025June 4, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

Stanford HAI’s 2025 AI Index Report is out. [4/7/25]
Joe Patrice in Above the Law reports on an ABA TECHSHOW session exploring the role of AI as a way to bridge the access to justice gap. [4/3/25]
Writing in The Times, Richard Susskind explores whether AI could replace traditional lawyers (and do so by 2035). [3/27/25]
In what the ABA Journal reports is an “‘extremely rare’ move,” law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has acquired legal technology company Springbok AI. [3/18/25]
The American Bar Association released the 2024 Legal Technology Survey Report, the ABA Journal reports. [3/4/25]

Regulatory Innovation

Jonathan Adler writes in The Volokh Conspiracy about a new study on the effects of occupational licensing on the legal profession. [3/26/25]
Crispin Passmore appears on The Future Is Bright Podcast discussing alternative business structures. [3/25/25]
Michael Houlberg, of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, appears on the Paralegal Boot Camp podcast, discussing regulatory innovation. [3/22/25]
California Assembly Bill 931 seeks to prohibit lawyers from sharing fees with out-of-state, nonlawyer-owned alternative business structures. [2/19/25]

Courts, Rules & Access to Justice

Stanford Law School’s Rhode Center and Legal Design Lab, in partnership with the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, have published a diagnostic report that outlines a blueprint for creating more innovative, modern, and accessible courts. Read more about the effort and sign up for an upcoming webinar to engage in a discussion about the research and the report. [4/3/25]
The American Arbitration Association® launched new Consumer Mediation Procedures which are designed for lower-value consumer disputes. [3/31/25]
The National Center for State Courts released a new report–”Preserving the Future of Juries and Jury Trials”–that discusses the challenges of declining juror participation and jury trials and offers strategic solutions. [3/26/25]

The Profession

363 law professors submitted an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie. ABA Journal also reports. [4/8/25]
The National Center for State Courts reports on the National Convening on the Future of Legal Education, hosted by the CCJ/COSCA Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform (CLEAR). [3/19/25]
Sara Randazzo of the Wall Street Journal writes about the highly competitive law school admissions year. [3/15/25]

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on March 25, 2025June 4, 2025 by msuhr

Technology

The World Justice Project, in partnership with the World Bank, released “Advancing Access to Justice Via Information and Communications Technology: A Literature Review.” [3/21/25]
Michael Bommarito, Daniel Katz, and Jillian Bommarito published a new paper on the domain-specific tokenizers they developed for the KL3M (Kelvin Legal Large Language Model) dataset and models. [3/21/25]
The Stanford Legal Design Lab’s AI and Access to Justice Initiative reports on a recent webinar sharing how the Citizens Advice SORT group (part of the broader Citizen Advice network in England) uses generative AI to support their advisors. [3/20/25]
Writing in Above the Law, Stephen Embry questions whether technology alone can solve rural legal deserts. [3/19/25]
Michael Navin, of the National Center for State Courts, has a counterpoint to the Arizona Supreme Court’s AI Avatar reporters. [3/18/25]

Regulatory Innovation

The Arizona Supreme Court has adopted new Arizona Code of Judicial Administration §7-211: Community-Based Justice Work Service Delivery Models. [3/19/25]
The Financial Times reports that Big Four accounting firm EY is overhauling its UK law business. [3/19/25]
Ed Walters, Chief Strategy Officer of vLex, has a piece in the TECHSHOW Issue of Law Practice Magazine on re-regulating UPL in the age of AI. [3/1/25]
Also in the TECHSHOW Issue of Law Practice Magazine, ethics attorney Lucian Pera provides guidance on the ethics issues with litigation funding. [3/1/25]

Courts & Rules

California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero delivered the State of the Judiciary Address, discussing, among other things, the expansion of remote proceedings, the recent bar exam failure, and reforms to the State Bar’s operations. [3/18/25]
Maya Buenaventura and Paul Heaton, of RAND, discuss the impact of access to civil legal aid on improved housing stability. [3/12/25]
The Pew Courts & Communities project released an interactive chart detailing the breakdown of case types in state courts in 2024. [3/6/25]

The Profession

The State Bar of California is recommending that the California Supreme Court offer provisional licenses for candidates who fail or withdrew from the February Kaplan-authored exam, ABA Journal reports. [3/17/25]

A2J Briefing: News from the Field

Posted on March 10, 2025June 4, 2025 by msuhr

At the Rhode Center, we do our best to keep abreast of news relevant to our work. What began as an internal newsletter, we are now excited to offer our A2J Briefing more broadly, to you! Nothing formal here, just a collection of stories and developments that we find interesting. If you have a tip on an article, feel free to contact us here. And learn more about our work at https://clp.law.stanford.edu/.

Technology

Legaltech Hub released an interactive map of generative AI legal tech. [3/6/25]
Two major studies have been released on AI in legal tasks:
- Researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial assessing six legal tasks using a RAG-powered legal AI tool (Vincent AI), an AI reasoning model (OpenAI’s o1-preview), or no AI. LawSites reports. [3/4/25] & [3/5/25]
- The Vals Legal AI Report evaluates and benchmarks AI tools from four vendors: Harvey, CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters), Vincent AI (vLex), and Oliver (Vecflow). Legal Insider reports. [2/27/25]
A.G.I anyone? Ezra Klein writes for the New York Times. [3/4/25]
LawSites reports that LexisNexis plans to work closely with OpenAI to integrate OpenAI’s LLMs and APIs across the LexisNexis ecosystem. [2/27/25]
A piece on Community Justice Workers appears in Work Shift. [2/24/25]
Margaret Hagan, Executive Director of the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Law School, published a new Medium article on her research into quality standards for AI legal help. [2/20/25]
A number of RAILS working groups (Responsible AI in Legal Services) have published their efforts, including Use Cases for GenAI in Legal and AI Risk Management Framework: Guidance for Corporate Legal Teams. [Various]

Regulatory Innovation

Reuters reports on the narrowing of the Utah legal services regulatory sandbox. [3/3/25]
Ethicist Lucia Pera writes about nonlawyer-owned law firms in FedSoc’s Regulatory Transparency Project blog, arguing that it’s time to rethink ABA Formal Opinion 91-360 (1991). [3/3/15]
The Arizona Supreme Court has approved KPMG’s application for an ABS license. Multiple outlets reporting: Bloomberg Law; Reuters; Forbes; LawSites. [2/27/25]
Mother Jones published a piece on the lawyer monopoly and its impact on access to civil legal services. [Feb.25]
The South Dakota Supreme Court has approved a pilot program for alternative licensure that will allow law students to bypass the bar exam with two years in a public service legal position and successful completion of an ethics test. [2/25/25]
The ABA Journal’s The Modern Law Library podcast covers Rebecca Haw Allensworth’s new book The Licensing Racket. [2/19/25]

Courts & Rules

The Virginia State Bar solicited public comments on a proposal that would allow court clerks, self-help staff, librarians, and courthouse navigators to answer questions and assist with selecting and completing court forms. Frontline Justice reports. [3/5/25]
Harvard’s Access to Justice Lab published research on expungement in several counties in Pennsylvania and Kansas which supports an analysis on which statutory reforms would render the largest number of cases eligible for record clearing. [100 N.D. L. Rev. 11 (2025)]
The Pew Courts & Communities project team discusses how medical debt that winds up in courts can be difficult to spot. [2/27/25]
The Working Group on AI and the Courts of the ABA Task Force on Law and AI has published guidelines for the responsible use of AI in judicial settings. The guidelines were released in The Sedona Conference Journal. LawSites reports. [2/26/25]