The Family Law Bar as Leaders of Change: The IAALS Summit

• Published date: 01 January 2017
• Date: 01 January 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12257
• Author: Natalie A. Knowlton

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE

THE FAMILY LAW BAR AS LEADERS OF CHANGE: THE IAALS

SUMMIT

Natalie A. Knowlton

The capstone article of this Special Issue summarizes the result of two days of discussion

between and among dedicated family law professionals. “The Family Law Bar: Stewards of the Sys-

tem, Leaders of Change” details the themes and recommendations that emerged from the November

2015 Family Bar Summit: Shaping the System for the Families We Serve. The Institute for the

Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) at the University of Denver hosted the Sum-

mit through its Honoring Families Initiative (HFI).

HFI’s mission is to identify and recommend dignified and fair processes for the resolution of

divorce, separation, and custody in a manner that is more accessible and more responsive to children,

spouses/parents, and families. In furtherance of this mission, HFI brought together carefully selected

thought leaders from a cross-section of the family law bar. As then-director of HFI,

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I had the distinct

pleasure of working with IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis, IAALS Senior Advisor

Janice Davidson, and members of the esteemed Summit Steering Committee

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to plan for and host

the Summit.

We focused on attorneys as a stakeholder group given their unique position in the family justice

system. Family law practitioners play a fundamentally important role in helping families through the

divorce and separation process. These attorneys witness firsthand how parents and children are made

to fit within processes and procedures that may not be conducive to a healthy postdivorce reorganiza-

tion. Many family law leaders experience frustration while working within a system that is not struc-

tured in a way that enables them to best serve their clients.

Given their role within the system, family law attorneys are well-positioned to identify and

speak to the systematic obstacles to serving clients in a timely, efficient, and affordable manner and

facilitating a process that enables better outcomes for children. The two-day Family Bar Summit was

designed to engage this stakeholder group in discussions around problems in the current system and

recommendations for improvement. The myriad ideas enumerated in “The Family Law Bar: Stew-

ards of the System, Leaders of Change” represent the perspective of a strong and more cohesive fam-

ily bar, working toward systemic change to better serve their respective clients.

The recommendations discussed at the Summit are interdisciplinary and engage diverse family

justice system stakeholder groups, from judges and courts to legal educators and community organi-

zations. Family Court Review (FCR) readers will undoubtedly find one or more suggestions that

directly implicate their area of expertise in the family court system. As the Family Bar Summit report

highlights, the recommendations are expansive because “[t]he responsibility for creating separation

and divorce processes that support better outcomes for children and provide greater accessibility, effi-

ciency, and fairness for all parties is shared among attorneys, courts, communities, and other family

justice system stakeholders.”

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In order to continue the dialogue after the Summit, IAALS invited Summit attendees to reflect

on and react to the various recommendations presented in the report. FCR offered to compile and

publish these comments in a Special Issue dedicated to the Summit. Each article contained in this

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 55 No. 1, January 2017 8–10

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C2017 University of Denver – IAALS