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New Board Chair, Vice-Chair Sworn In; Board Approves Public Comment Period for Plan to License Paraprofessionals

Today Associate Justice Joshua P. Groban of the California Supreme Court swore in Ruben Duran as Chair of the State Bar Board of Trustees and Brandon Stallings as Vice-Chair at the Board’s first meeting of the 2021-2022 Board year.

Remarking on lawyers’ role in a democracy as the keepers of the rule of law and defenders against chaos, Justice Groban noted, “As the State Bar Board of Trustees, your import is doubled. You are the stabilizers of the stabilizers, the stewards of the stewards, the rock behind the rock. I wish you insight, patience, and a little bit of luck in that endeavor.”

Duran was appointed to the board in 2018 by the Speaker of the Assembly and served this year as Vice-Chair. He will lead the State Bar into 2022 as the Board establishes its next five-year strategic plan and the agency moves forward with strategic initiatives focused on its mission of public protection, improving Californians’ access to legal services, and promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

Noting the past year of challenges at the global, national, and state level and the impact of those challenges on the State Bar, Duran remarked on strength, adaptability, and resilience as his personal watchwords during this time and for the Board’s efforts leading the agency into the future. “The State Bar is now squarely focused on our fundamental mission, to protect the public while ensuring access to justice and inclusion for all in our legal and justice systems. It's a high calling and a critical charge. Our upcoming strategic planning process gives us a chance to demonstrate our adaptability...for the betterment of our state.” 

Stallings first joined the Board in 2015 as an elected member and was appointed in 2018 by the California Supreme Court. He has previously chaired the Board’s Regulation and Discipline Committee.  

Plan for licensing paraprofessionals approved for public comment

The Board approved to circulate for 110 days of public comment a comprehensive proposal to license a new group of legal practitioners. The program is intended to help reduce the justice gap by expanding the pool of available, affordable, trained providers of legal assistance. Culminating nearly 18 months of intensive work by the California Paraprofessional Program Working Group, recommendations are designed to carefully balance the dual goals of increasing access while protecting the public. Recommendations include:

• Approved practice areas that address areas of highest unmet civil legal need, such as consumer debt; employment; and family, children, and custody. Authorized services within practice areas are also specified. Examples of services that these practitioners could help consumers with include:
  • Clearing a debt record or expunging a criminal record 
  • Resolving a landlord-tenant dispute 
  • Filing a simple divorce 
  • Adopting a child  
• Licensing requirements that balance protecting the public and encouraging potential entrants into this new career pathway: Prerequisites include education and experiential training requirements. Licensure would also require that practitioners pass subject matter testing and undergo a moral character determination. 
• Regulatory requirements and discipline which build on parallel structures in place for attorneys but offer increased public protection: Practitioners would need to adhere to Rules of Professional Conduct, including comprehensive provisions for disclosure, informed consent, and written agreements. They would also need to meet requirements for financial responsibility; continuing education, and annual reporting. The State Bar would be authorized and funded to investigate and prosecute allegations of misconduct. To counteract the potential risk that implementing a paraprofessional program would lead to increased activity in the unauthorized practice of law (UPL), the working group recommended ways that enforcement of UPL statutes could be enhanced. These enhancements would be included in the proposed legislative package needed to enact the program.
• Phased program rollout; consumer outreach: Rollout would initially be limited geographically and in practice areas to allow for evaluation and tweaking before statewide implementation. The working group recommended rigorous program evaluation criteria, including equity and access, client satisfaction and outcomes, affordability, sustainability, and the cost of education to qualify for licensure. Outreach would educate consumers on the availability of paraprofessionals, what services they can provide, and what other sources of low-cost and free legal services are available.

After the public comment period, the working group and staff will make any final adjustments and submit the program for final Board approval. The plan would also go to the California Supreme Court and the Legislature for approval before implementation.

Background on paraprofessional initiative

At least three State Bar working groups since the late 1980s have considered limited licensing to improve access, and recommendations to develop such a program have come before the Board beginning in 1991. Because of the State Bar’s hybrid nature at the time, these reform proposals previously never moved forward. The agency’s sharper mission focus on public protection and access, resulting from the separation of professional association functions in 2018, has enabled the State Bar to finally and fully flesh out this reform idea for the first time.

Licensing paraprofessionals for legal services follows a model of tiered services that has long been in use within healthcare, driven by similar dynamics of need and affordability. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants deal with routine care, improving access while freeing doctors for care requiring their level of expertise. The Legislature has supported this model for healthcare because it is viewed as a fundamental need.

California is now among a growing number of states looking to license nonlawyers to provide meaningful assistance in areas of law that include high numbers of self-represented litigants. The California Justice Gap Study, completed in 2019, found that 55 percent of Californians at all income levels experienced at least one civil legal problem in the study year, yet they received no help, or inadequate help, for 85 percent of those problems.

In March 2020, the Board established the California Paraprofessional Program Working Group to develop licensure and regulatory recommendations. Chaired by Justice Ioana Petrou of the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, the 19-member working group represents a broad range of relevant expertise, including consumer protection organizations, educators, regulatory specialists, and existing paraprofessionals.

In other measures, the Board heard a report from Executive Director Leah Wilson on the inclusive planning process already underway that will provide input to the Board’s establishment of goals and objectives for the State Bar’s next five-year strategic plan. The goal is to finalize the plan by March 2022.

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The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.