ISBA futures report recommends consumer directory, tech training

An ISBA task force has concluded that licensing nonlawyer legal technicians is not a good way to improve the delivery of legal services. Instead, the group recommends creating a consumer-oriented lawyer directory for ISBA members, providing more technology and practice-management education and resources to members, and establishing an ISBA standing committee on the future of legal services, among other initiatives.

The ISBA Board of Governors is recommending that the ISBA Assembly adopt the report and recommendations of the Task Force on the Future of Legal Services. The Board approved the report in October and the Assembly will consider it at its December 10 meeting in Chicago. Read the report here.

The task force grew out of concern about the move to create court-licensed nonlawyer legal service providers, also know as LLLTs, in Washington and other states (for more, see the September 2015 Illinois Bar Journal cover story). However, the group examined many other, and likely more significant, issues reshaping the practice of law.

They include the rise of internet-based legal service providers, the broader impact of technology on the practice of law, and the increasing number of self-represented litigants. With this report, the ISBA joins a growing number of bar associations across the country seeking to address the transformation underway in the legal services industry. The report and recommendations will be the subject of an article in the January 2017 Illinois Bar Journal.

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