Texas Strives to Help Low-Income Individuals with Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals and Licensed Court-Access Assistants Proposal
Earlier this month, the Texas Supreme Court took a significant step toward improving access to justice by giving preliminary approval to two programs—licensed legal paraprofessionals and licensed court-access assistants—both of which would allow professionals who are not attorneys to provide limited legal services to low-income individuals. These initiatives are critical for people who struggle to find and afford the legal help they need, particularly in high-demand areas such as family law, estate planning, and consumer debt.
Chief Justice Nathan Hecht emphasized the importance of these initiatives, stating, “Ensuring that people, regardless of their economic standing, have access to civil legal services is fundamental to the integrity of our judicial system.”
The proposal outlines specific services that licensed legal paraprofessionals could provide with and without a lawyer’s supervision. For example, in cases of uncontested divorces with no children or complex property issues, licensed legal paraprofessionals could—without attorney supervision—advise clients on filling out approved forms; prepare affidavits for temporary orders and divorce decrees; and communicate with the court, unrepresented opposing parties, or legal representatives. If a licensed legal paraprofessional wishes to provide legal help on uncontested protection orders or uncontested suits affecting the parent-child relationship, they must be supervised by an attorney.
Similar programs exist in seven other states—Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, and Washington—where allied legal professionals have already proven effective in providing critical legal services to people who might not have received any assistance otherwise. IAALS’ Allied Legal Professionals project is focused on standardizing and expanding these successful programs nationwide. Most other states do not require any form of attorney supervision and have expanded the services that these professionals can offer beyond just low-income individuals, recognizing that the middle class also struggles to afford legal services.
The licensed court-access assistant program, while similar, has a few key differences from the licensed legal paraprofessional program. These professionals must work under the supervision of a lawyer, and they must work at an approved legal assistance organization, which includes nonprofits tailored toward providing legal services to lower-income people, a clinic or pro bono program of a Texas law school, or a pro bono project or program of the State Bar of Texas or a local or specialty bar. The types of cases these professionals can work on are also different as they can only work on cases in a civil justice court. This program more closely resembles other programs that exist in both Arizona and Alaska.
With expanded access to legal help, the financial, procedural, and time-intensive obstacles standing in the way of justice begin to fade. These two types of programs are clearing the path to justice for more people. By building a broader ecosystem of providers and providing best practices to guide innovation, we can expand access to affordable legal help for all.
Public comments on Texas’s new rules will be accepted until November 1, with the rules expected to take effect on December 1.
