Allied Legal Professionals

In January, the inaugural Legal Paraprofessional Summit brought together active and future legal paraprofessionals, as well as leaders from a number of states, to learn about the different components of each state’s ALP program and the steps Arizona took to create its program.

Allied legal professional programs have the potential to diversify the legal services market and create more cost-effective legal service models, and they should be created as an important part of a broader legal service ecosystem.

IAALS has released a landscape report along with an accompanying online Knowledge Center that offer a compilation and comparison of existing programs nationwide for establishing new tiers of legal professionals who can provide legal services to the public.

IAALS submitted this comment to the Colorado Supreme Court in support of the Colorado Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals Program. The program would authorize paraprofessionals to provide limited legal services in family law without attorney supervision.

In January, the i4j Program at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law proposed expanding several legal paraprofessional programs to include a housing training certificate, equipping community members to provide limited-scope representation related to housing issues.

The Oregon Supreme Court has approved a program that will license individuals who aren’t lawyers to provide limited legal services in family law and landlord/tenant issues. This makes Oregon the fifth state in the country to enlist a new tier of legal professionals in the effort to provide more access to legal help.

In May 2022, the Minnesota Supreme Court hosted a public hearing on several recommendations to improve the state's Legal Paraprofessional Pilot Project. Speakers in favor and opposition of the recommendations came together for constructive dialogue on tangible ways to improve the program and, ultimately, increase access to legal services.

A new project will help standardize a new tier of legal professionals nationally. Allied legal professionals—similar to nurse practitioners—hold a key to bringing more accessible and affordable legal help where it is needed most. IAALS seeks to facilitate the adoption of allied legal professional programs around the country and assist states in making informed decisions on how to structure these efforts.

In 2021, Minnesota implemented a legal paraprofessional program to provide increased access to justice for a broader range of low- and modest-income individuals. So far, there are multiple signs that these paraprofessionals bring positive change to the profession.