REGULATORY
SANDBOX
ALTERNATIVE
BUSINESS
STRUCTURES
ALLIED
LEGAL
PROS.
COMMUNITY-
BASED
MODELS

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These are currently the four most common regulatory reform models. It's important to note that these models overlap and intersect in various ways.

Regulatory Sandbox

A regulatory sandbox is a policy tool through which new models or services can be offered and tested to assess marketability and impact and inform future policymaking while maintaining consumer protection. It is risk-based regulation involving one or more regulatory models (e.g., ABSs, community-based models, etc.).

IAALS proposes a new system of regulation for legal service providers. The IAALS model of regulation envisions a non-profit, independent regulator of legal service providers implementing a risk-based approach to regulation that seeks to advance our regulatory objective: ensure consumers access to a well-developed, high-quality, innovative, and competitive market for legal services. Read more in our Independent Regulator of Legal Services Policy Outline.

Domestic

Implemented Programs:

Utah

Programs Being Implemented:

Indiana

Minnesota

Washington

Programs Not Moving Forward:

California

Florida

Virginia

International

Implemented Programs:

Alberta, Canada

British Columbia, Canada

Ontario, Canada

Manitoba, Canada

Nova Scotia, Canada

 

Alternative Business Structures

An alternative business structure, or ABS, is a business entity that includes people who aren't lawyers who have an economic interest or decision-making authority in a firm and provides legal services in accordance with local Supreme Court and ethics rules. This regulatory model is often referred to as entity-based regulation. It targets people of all income levels and businesses and involves changing or eliminating Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4.

National Organizations Working in this Space

Domestic 

Implemented Programs:

Utah

  • See the information listed in the "Regulatory Sandbox" section above.

Arizona

Washington, D.C.

Puerto Rico

Programs Under Consideration:

Texas

Litigation

International

Implemented Programs:

Australia

Canada

England & Wales

Programs Under Consideration:

New Zealand

 

Allied Legal Professionals

"Allied legal professionals" is the term IAALS uses to describe a tier of providers who are the nurse practitioners of the legal profession. They are trained and licensed to offer legal advice and services for certain case types. This can be a market-based model that targets middle and low-income individuals or a legal aid model and requires relaxation of/exemption or waiver of unauthorized practice of law (UPL) rules.

Domestic

See the IAALS Allied Legal Professionals Knowledge Center for the full landscape of programs in various stages throughout the country.

Allied legal professionals are not a new concept in the legal profession. Various types of authorized representatives have existed within federal administrative proceedings space for decades. Learn more in this 2024 report on Nonlawyer Assistance and Representation.

International

Implemented Programs:

British Columbia, Canada

  • Implemented through their innovation sandbox, see above

Ontario, Canada

Saskatchewan, Canada

 

Community-Based Justice Worker Models

Community-based justice worker models involve training and certifying individuals working on the frontlines at community-based or legal aid organizations to offer limited scope legal advice and services in certain case types. Think of community-based justice workers as the EMTs of the legal profession. These models target low-income individuals and require modification of/exemption from or waivers of UPL restrictions. Currently, existing projects like these are authorized through state supreme court Administrative Orders or the Utah Sandbox. Learn more about the diverse landscape of community-based justice worker models in this expert opinion and this webinar.

A similar but slightly different model in the community-based justice worker space is legal first aid—training existing client-facing staff in community nonprofits to identify unmet legal needs and legal causes and help clients access legal protections. Legal Link is a nonprofit organization that has created legal first aid programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. Because legal first aid does not involve giving legal advice or providing legal services, no unauthorized practice of law waivers or ethics rule changes are needed.

National Organizations Working in this Space:

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Implemented Programs:

Alaska

Arizona

Delaware

Hawaii

Montana

Utah (through its Sandbox)

Programs Under Consideration:

California

Georgia

Illinois

Michigan

Texas

Litigation:

Currently, much of the litigation in the regulatory reform space centers around whether the unauthorized practice of law statutes in various states, which prohibit people who are not lawyers from providing legal advice, violate the first amendment. In this short video, Paul Sherman from The Institute for Justice discusses the history of the professional speech doctrine; and in this short video, Paul discusses the line between speech by lawyers that is fully protected by the first amendment and what is not protected by the first amendment.