Commentary

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 35 No. 6 Pg. 14
• Pages: 14
• Publication year: 2022

CommentaryNo. Vol. 35 No. 6 Pg. 14Utah Bar JournalDecember, 2022

November, 2022

Evolving Innovation in the Law

by Deno Himonas, Victoria B. Finlinson, and Taymour B. Semnani

The COVID-19 pandemic caused much human suffering. But it also taught us that our lifestyles, families, communities, and businesses can be improved through a reexamination of our practices and the implementation of new processes and activities. This is not a case of "out with the old and in with new; but, rather, "out with what doesn't work and in with what does."

Our court system was not immune from the reexamination. Forced to reevaluate the delivery of access to our justice system, courtrooms across the United States relied heavily on technology and other innovations to adapt to the crisis.

During the pandemic (in August 2020), the Utah Supreme Court established the Utah Office of Legal Services Innovation, commonly known as the "Sandbox," to encourage innovation with respect to the delivery of legal services. While the Sandbox fostered controversy among Bar members, we believe its advocates and critics share important goals of utilizing technology to enhance access to and efficiency within the judicial system.

On February 9, 2022, justices from the Montana, Utah, and Washington Supreme Courts participated in a panel for the CLE "Law Tech Part 1: Using Technology to Increase Access to Justice." During this discussion, Utah was hailed an "ecosystem of innovation." Panelists considered the Sandbox as a formidable laboratory to develop tools to increase access to justice. Indeed, the Washington State Bar has reached out to the Office of Legal Services Innovation for assistance in developing a blueprint for their own Sandbox.

To...