Category: a2j

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]

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. 

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]

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]

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]

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]