It is no secret that access to legal representation and the courts has become limited. Even with the existence of nonprofit legal service organizations, many litigants remain unable to access affordable legal assistance. Several states are looking to nonlawyer legal professionals to help narrow the gap.
Washington led the way. In 2012, the Washington Supreme Court adopted a rule authorizing a new legal professional: the limited license legal technician (LLLT). An LLLT must have at least an associate level degree, take 45 credit hours of a core curriculum, and complete courses in a specific practice area. (Washington is starting with family law.) LLLTs must also pass a licensing examination. Washington is expected to begin licensing LLLTs in spring 2015. Under Washington’s rule, an LLLT may, among other things, obtain relevant facts from a client, inform a client of applicable procedures and deadlines, provide a client with approved self-help materials, complete and serve approved forms, perform legal research, and draft pleadings if the work is reviewed and approved by a Washington lawyer.
Oregon’s task force on LLLTs recently issued its report recommending that the Oregon State Bar “consider the general concept of a limited license for legal technicians” as part of a strategy to increase access to justice. The task force recommended that family law be the first area to be licensed, noting that 86 percent of all family law litigants in Oregon are self-represented.
New York is also grappling with the use of nonlawyer legal professionals. The New York State Court Navigator Program began in March 2014 and provided trained nonlawyers to assist with housing and consumer debt issues in courts in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Nonlawyers assist litigants, free of charge, with various tasks, including assistance in describing court processes to litigants, completing court-approved DIY forms, and accompanying litigants to court and giving notes or reminders to litigants. Following the success of this program, plans are underway to introduce legislation to codify a more substantial role for nonlawyers in consumer credit cases.
California’s Civil Justice Strategies Task Force recently recommended that its state bar study the design of a pilot LLLT program in one subject matter area and explore a “navigators” program to provide volunteer assistance to self-represented litigants in attending hearings.
It looks like Michigan’s new Task Force on 21st Century Practice may take up the issue of nonlawyer legal professionals. The task force’s charges include examining “public expectations about how to seek and obtain affordable legal services, and innovations that expand the ability to offer legal services in dramatically different and financially viable ways.”
I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the State Bar’s task force offer concrete recommendations to help alleviate the justice gap in Michigan, whether it be LLLTs or “navigators” or something different altogether.