by Melissa Young Wilcox, Carie Tarte & Heather Moreau Equal Access to Justice: Paralegals and Limited Legal Licensure Equal justice for all is the foundation


of Vermont’s legal system. In September 2001, the Vermont Supreme Court’s Com- mittee on Equal Access to Legal Services determined that there is limited access to civil legal assistance for Vermont residents. The Equal Access to Justice Coalition was formed in 2004 and has since strived to ad- dress this need. Vermont Legal Aid, Ver- mont Law Line, Have Justice Will Travel, free legal clinics, and attorneys offering pro-bono and low-bono services are im- portant resources. Unfortunately, there still remain a significant number of Vermonters in need of legal services without access to representation. According to recent data obtained from the Court Administrator’s Office, there are a large number of pro se litigants in both the Civil and Family Divisions of Vermont Superior Court. Of active divorce cases 54% are pro se. 84 % of active parentage cases are pro se. Of foreclosure actions 1% of plaintiffs and 74% of defendants are pro se. 2% of plaintiffs and 85% of defendants in collections cases are pro se. Of landlord tenant cases, 24% of plaintiffs and 90% of defendants are pro se. Of small claims ac- tions 64% of plaintiffs and 94% of defen- dants are pro se. It is clear from these sta- tistics that there is a noticeable discrepan- cy between represented plaintiffs and pro se defendants. Vermont paralegals want to help bridge this gap and be able to pro- vide direct limited legal assistance to the self-represented. Board members of both the Vermont Paralegal Organization (VPO) and the Ver- mont Bar Association (VBA) met this past spring to discuss, among other things, the potential stratification of the legal profes- sion, paralegal licensure, pro bono clin- ics, and the ethical considerations related to these issues. Both organizations agreed that continued communication and collab- oration between them would be benefi- cial. The VPO Board submitted a propos- al to the VBA requesting the creation of a paralegal section. The VBA approved the proposal and established the Paralegals Section in July of 2013. The Section’s first order of business is planning a dinner and CLE event regarding the topic of limited le- gal licensure. This topic was addressed at the VBA’s 2013 mid-year meeting and it is the Section’s goal to continue the dialog until a solution is implemented.


18


Washington State Is Doing It; Is Vermont Ready?


In November 2001, the Washington


State Supreme Court made a historic de- cision commissioning the Task Force on Civil Equal Justice Funding. The Task Force was, in part, directed to conduct a study of the civil legal needs of Washington’s low- income residents, determine the degree to which these needs were being addressed, and develop proposals for long-term sus- tainable funding to ensure that basic legal assistance is available. In September 2003, the Task Force con- cluded its study and published its findings in the The Washington State Civil Legal Needs Study. The study concluded that low income residents of Washington State had limited access to affordable legal ser- vices despite having important legal prob- lems. The results of the study prompted an initiative to find ways to reduce the cost of legal services while continuing to main- tain quality and reliability of services. The concept of limited legal licensure for non- lawyers emerged.


On September 3, 2013, upon the recom- mendation of the Washington Practice of Law Board, the Washington State Supreme Court adopted New APR 28 – Limited Prac- tice Rule for Limited License Legal Techni- cians (New APR 28).1


New APR 28 autho-


rizes certain non-lawyers to render limited legal assistance or advice in approved practice areas.


Regulations for Limited License Legal Technicians


Application Requirements Under New APR 28, in order for a non- lawyer to render limited legal assistance and become a Limited License Legal Tech- nician (LLLT) in Washington State, an appli- cant must: (1) Age. Be at least 18 years of age; (2) Moral Character and Fitness to Prac- tice. Be of good moral character and demonstrate fitness to practice as an LLLT;


(3) Education. Have the following edu- cation, unless waived by the Limited License Legal Technician Board2


(the


Board) through regulation: a. an associate level degree or high- er;


b. 45 credit hours of core curriculum instruction in paralegal studies


THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2014


as approved by the Board with instruction to occur at an ABA approved law school or ABA ap- proved paralegal education pro- gram;


c. In each practice area in which an applicant seeks licensure, in- struction in the approved prac- tice area, which must be based on a curriculum developed by or in conjunction with an ABA ap- proved law school. For each ap- proved practice area, the Board shall determine the key concepts or topics to be covered in the cur- riculum and the number of credit hours of instruction required for admission in that practice area.


d. For the purposes of satisfying the education requirements, one credit hour shall be equivalent to 450 minutes of instruction.


(4) Application. Submit an application under oath to the Board.


(5) Examination Fee. Pay the examina- tion and any other application fees.


Licensing Requirements Under New APR 28, in order for a non- lawyer to obtain licensure as a Limited Li- cense Legal Technician, an applicant must: (1) Examination. Take and pass the ex- amination provided for in New APR 28;


(2) Experience. Acquire 3,000 hours of substantive law-related work experi- ence supervised by a licensed lawyer. The experience must be acquired no more than three years prior to licen- sure and no more than three years after passing the examination.


(3) Annual License Fee. Pay the annual license fee.


(4) Financial Responsibility. Show proof of ability to respond in damages re- sulting from his or her acts or omis- sions in the performance of services permitted by this rule. The proof of financial responsibility shall be in such form and in such amount as the Board may by regulation prescribe; and


(5) Meet all other licensing require- ments set forth in the rules and reg- ulations proposed by the Board and adopted by the Supreme Court.


In addition to providing education, ex- www.vtbar.org


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