Institute for Civil Justice Events

RAND Institute for Civil Justice and RAND Feinberg Center host events on an array of topics of interest to the legal community.

Past Events

After the L.A. Wildfires: Implications for Risk Mitigation, Compensation, and the Insurance Market

The RAND Institute for Civil Justice and the Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation hosted a workshop, “After the L.A. Wildfires: Implications for Risk Mitigation, Compensation, and the Insurance Market,” on March 20, 2025 in RAND’s Santa Monica office.

Approximately 60 people attended the workshop, including RAND Trustees, insurers, consumer groups, environmental groups, mitigation experts, a utility, senior staff of the California State Assembly and Senate Insurance Committees, plaintiff lawyers, defense attorneys, judges, investors, RAND experts, and more. Discussion sessions focused on

• the impact of the recent wildfires on California’s residential insurance market
• the role insurance can play in incentivizing safer buildings and reducing risk in California
• identifying litigation scenarios as well as likely claims/coverage disputes
• the role of the public and private sectors in catastrophic risk insurance markets (including the potential role of a government backstop).

Researchers will create a publication taking into account the insights and potential solutions identified, as well as identify next steps for RAND that can help move the policy debate forward.

Innovations in the Administration of High-Volume Civil Cases

The recent rise in high-stakes but small-scale cases including debt collections, evictions, home foreclosures, domestic violence protection order petitions, and child support enforcement actions have come to dominate state court dockets. At this conference for academics and high-level court administrators, RAND researchers were joined by judges, clerks of court, court executive officers, and court directors to discuss new managerial strategies and solutions that can systematically strengthen court performance and foster continuous learning and improvement in court operations. Also in attendance were reporters for the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law, High-Volume Civil Adjudication project, a multiyear effort that will offer courts guidance on how best to administer high-volume civil dockets.

Exploring Research to Improve Systems and Outcomes

The ICJ, UCLA School of Law, and the Los Angeles County Superior Court (LASC) cohosted a conference for judges and high-level court administrators to discuss how researchers use data in various contexts to conduct empirical research and improve justice, and the types of data held by LASC. Participants included the LASC presiding judge, assistant presiding judge, executive officer/clerk of court/jury commissioner, director of research and data management, and more than 20 other judges and one commissioner. The group brainstormed ways in which data can be used to improve the Superior Court and courts more broadly to improve the equity and efficiency of court proceedings in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Access to Justice in California: Challenges and Policy Innovations

In January 2024, the RAND Institute for Civil Justice held a symposium, bringing together panels of experts and practitioners to discuss the challenges and policy innovations in accessing justice in California. The event was held in partnership with Stanford Law School, UCLA School of Law, and Berkeley Law School.

Participants included presiding judges of California county court systems and California courts of appeal, executive officers of county court systems, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice, representatives from the California Department of Justice, CEOs of legal services and legal aid organizations, the executive director of the State Bar of California, representatives from the NAACP, academics, and practitioners. Participants explored unmet legal needs around the country, evaluated policy developments, learned what is working and what isn’t, and unpacked critics’ concerns about loosening regulations around the practice of law.

Events from 2023-2020