Long time readers of this blog are familiar with the trend in some jurisdictions to allow certain legal professionals who are not admitted lawyers to provide limited legal services. A recent podcast of the ABA "legal rebels" page addressed the subject. Its introduction reads as follows:
Much has been made of the gigantic access-to-justice gap in this country. According to a 2022 study by the Legal Services Corp., 92% of Americans do not receive any or enough help for a civil legal need. There are many reasons for this.
Lawyers can be expensive. People might not realize that they need lawyers. And let’s face it, lawyers are not the most likable or trustworthy people out there. We may not be used car salesmen or members of Congress, but we’re definitely in the neighborhood.
One possible way to help bridge the gap is to expand the pool of people eligible to practice law. Some states have experimented with licensing paralegals or paraprofessionals to handle limited legal matters. In recent years, states including Arizona, Utah, Minnesota and Oregon have started programs allowing paraprofessionals to practice limited areas of law under supervision or after many hours of training.
Of course, that raises age-old concerns about unauthorized practice of law. Those concerns have already helped derail one paraprofessional licensing program in Washington. Could they help take down some more?
In this episode the Legal Rebels Podcast, Eda Rosa talks about licensing paraprofessionals to perform legal tasks, as well as the importance of paralegals and paraprofessionals to the legal profession, with the ABA Journal’s Victor Li. She runs Eda Rosa LLC, a paralegal service and legal professional development training company and hosts the Let’s Talk Paralegal podcast.
You can listen to the full podcast here. It is about 40 minutes long.
No comments:
Post a Comment