Because statistics show that the vast majority of people don't have access to legal representation, for years there has been a debate about whether jurisdictions should allow non-lawyers to provide certain types of legal services in order to provide better access to representation. I have posted many comments, links to articles and podcasts, most recently here, here, and here.
Yet, to date, only Washington and Utah have actually created programs to do something about it by recognizing and regulating "legal technicians" (or LLLTs for "limited license legal techinicians"). The requirements of the program in Washington are explained here.
Last week, the ABA Journal published another article on the subject (here). The title of the article asks "Can licensed legal paraprofessionals narrow the access-to-justice gap?" It is an odd question to ask, in my mind, because at this point the answer should be obvious. Yes! The question is whether the legal profession wants to make the commitment to see it done and to see it done well. Two states have, but the rest don't seem to be interested or are extremely slow in following their example.
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