48 / 60
48
APRIL/MAY 2015
LEGAL
ETHICS
BY JOHN LEVIN
Non-Lawyer Legal Practitioners–
A Coming Trend
T
he previous column discussed the
lack of affordable legal services to
the middle class, even though there
appears to be a surplus of lawyers available
to provide those services. One reason for
this situation is that the cost of obtaining a
law degree (in both time and money) is so
high that the fees necessary to recover and
earn a return on the investment require a
fee structure that prices legal services out
of the reach of many.
The use of licensed paralegals has low-
ered some of the costs of providing legal
services, but paralegals must work under
the direction of a lawyer. Another solution
to this problem is to create a new class of
legal provider–analogous to a nurse practi-
tioner or physician’s assistant in the medi-
cal profession–who can perform certain
services without supervision. This class of
provider would be trained at a lower cost
than attorneys and could provide limited
services at a lower fee. This is the topic of
many discussions in the blogosphere and
is the subject of an extensive note in the
Cardozo Law Review [35 Cardozo L. Rev.
2043 (June 2014)].
The State of Washington supreme court
recently adopted a rule allowing the licens-
ing of “Limited License Legal Technicians”.
These practitioners will be able to provide
legal assistance, including advice to unrep-
resented litigants, but will not be able to
John Levin is the retired Assis-
tant General Counsel of GATX
Corporation and a member of
the
CBARecord
Editorial Board.
represent litigants in court. The program
to license these practitioners in specific
areas of the law in currently in progress.
Arizona has provided for “Certified Legal
Document Preparers” who can perform
certain functions normally performed
by lawyers. California has instituted the
categories of “Legal Document Assistant”
and “Unlawful Detainer Assistant” with
similar capabilities.
There are two ways of looking at the
economic impact of such programs on
the legal profession. In a macro view, the
programs should have a minimal impact.
By far, the majority of people using a “legal
technician” would otherwise go unrepre-
sented. In fact, much as a nurse practitioner
may refer a particular case to a physician,
there will be instances where the legal
technician will refer cases that otherwise
would never receive attention to lawyers.
On the other hand, in a micro view,
there will no doubt be cases where the
specific client will refer a simple matter
to a legal technician rather than a lawyer
simply because it is cheaper. These situa-
tions will either take business away from
a lawyer, force the lawyer to reduce fees to
match that of the technician, or encourage
the lawyer to have technicians on staff to
perform the work (much as doctors have
nurse practitioners on staff).
To date, the organized bar has not been
uniformly supportive of the development
of non-lawyer legal practitioners. Support
has come from the bench and the lay
public. The consensus in the press and
blogosphere, however, is that more and
more jurisdictions will provide for the
licensing of non-lawyer practitioners. The
bar should prepare for the change.
John Levin’s Ethics columns,
which are published in each
CBA Record,
are now in-
dexed and available online.
For more, go to http://johnlevin.info/
legalethics/.
ETHICS QUESTIONS?
The CBA’s Professional Responsibility Commit-
tee can help. Submit hypothetical questions to
Loretta Wells, CBA Government Affairs Direc-
tor, by fax 312/554-2054 or e-mail lwells@
chicagobar.org.
The Latest in Technology…
for Free
The CBA’s LawPracticeManagement &Technol-
ogy Division regularly sponsors demonstrations
of hardware and software geared to legal
professionals. In an hour or less, you will learn
how to use common technologies to be more
productive, efficient, and tech savvy!
Live demos are held in-person at the CBA or join
us virtually from your desktop (see upcoming
live sessions at www.chicagobar.org/cle). Com-
plimentary for CBAmembers. $50 Nonmember.
No MCLE Credit. Law student members and
associate members are welcome.
More than 80 titles are available now. See our video
on demand library at www.chicagobar.org/HowTo.