ABSTRACT
In 1975 a conference was held at Stanford University to predict changes in the law. The proceedings of the conference were published as Law and the American Future. The major legislative enactment of the first Clinton term—the reform of the federal welfare law—went in the opposite direction, drastically reducing and simplifying federal welfare benefits and regulations. The Legal Services Corporation survived the attacks of the 1980s, albeit with reduced funding; some with low and midlevel incomes gained access to lawyers through prepaid legal service plans and group legal services; and a portion of the need was met by pro-bono programs of law firms. In the United States, 95 percent of the law schools, as well as rapidly increasing numbers of schools of business, planning, and public policy, offer some alternative dispute resolution courses as part of their curricula. Publishers of law school textbooks now include alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in publications on civil procedure, contracts, torts, and family law.
