Emerging Models of Legal Professionals
The Practice
July/August 2018
As a profession, attorneys have yet to achieve a comprehensive, sustainable answer to close the access-to-justice gap. Are new paraprofessionals the answer?
July/August 2018
Who Accesses Justice?
Across the United States, people in need of an attorney struggle to afford one. To close the access to justice gap, the state of Washington has piloted a new model called limited license legal technicians (LLLTs) which gives legal practitioners and scholars the chance to pause and ask why we regulate our profession the way we do—and whether we could regulate the profession so that one day there can be justice for all.
Waiting for the Golden Ticket to the Chocolate Factory
Drawing on the authors' expertise in leadership in law firms and focus on traditional and modern professional careers, Laura Empson and Stefanie Gustafsson interviewed more than 70 paralegals, lawyers, management professionals, and representatives of professional bodies in the United Kingdom to examine the experiences of recent law graduates who have taken on paralegal roles.
Addressing the Supply Problem
Beyond the broad regulatory parallels between law and medicine—for instance, their professional regulation takes place at the state level—the case of PAs in medicine offers lawyers and other observers of the legal profession a glimpse into how an LLLT-like model has been received and operationalized in the past.
Approaching the Bar
Is it time to rethink the boundaries of the legal profession? The State of Washington is not the only jurisdiction experimenting with new models of legal professionals. Indeed, a range of efforts are under way across the country seeking to introduce paraprofessional legal technicians and other individuals without J.D.’s to improve access to justice and legal service delivery.
Framing the Paraprofessional Debate
The story of LLLTs and other legal paraprofessionals is about gaining access to a profession notorious for its exclusivity. Having approached the issue from the perspective of the paraprofessionals, it is also important to look at it from the vantage point of the profession. How are lawyers receiving these new models of legal professionals?
Extending Access and Quality
Mary E. Klotman, MD, is the dean of Duke University School of Medicine and vice chancellor for health affairs at Duke University. Dean Klotman recently sat down with David B. Wilkins, Lester Kissel Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession, for a conversation on how medicine has changed over time, particularly with respect to the development of professional roles within it.
