Paralegals

Utah’s Licensed Paralegal Practitioner Program Starts Small

A Utah Supreme Court justice believes the nonlawyer initiative designed to bolster access to justice is poised for growth.

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Utah’s first cohort of licensed paralegal practitioners features just four members, but state officials expects the program for nonlawyers to grow significantly in the years to come. Utah Supreme Court Justice Deno Himonas said he anticipates there will be 20 LPPs in two years and 200 in a decade.

The initiative, designed to strengthen access to justice, permits licensees to complete limited legal tasks in three practice areas: family law, debt collection, and landlord/tenant.

Himonas said Utah hopes to generate more applicants for the program through increasing awareness of its existence and broadening the educational opportunities made available to secure the license.

Applicants without a J.D. must complete LPP-approved courses for ethics and for any practice area in which they want to be licensed. Utah Valley University is the only institution currently offering the courses, though Himonas said having the courses offered more broadly would help.

“I want the program to be as accessible as possible,” he said, noting he would particularly like to see those in rural communities be able to participate.

All applicants for licensure must pass the LPP Ethics Exam and an exam in the area in which they wish to practice.

Four additional applicants are expected to take their exams in March, so by next spring there could be double the number of LPPs, said former LPP administrator Carrie T. Boren of the Utah State Bar.

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Boren said she is confident the LPPs will help address the gap in access to justice for the public. “We want them to have sound legal advice they can trust at a cost they can afford,” she said. “We are really proud of the [LPP] program, and I think it will do great things.”

The paralegal program is expected to be independently evaluated by two academics: Professor Anna E. Carpenter of University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law and Assistant Professor Alyx Mark of Wesleyan University.

Himonas said Utah is hopeful its work with the evaluators might shed light on other practice areas in which paralegals could be licensed, such as expungements. “We want to think about whether there are other potential good candidates,” he said.

Utah’s licensed paralegal practitioner program comes several years after Washington became the first state to permit limited license legal technicians, or LLLTs.

Meanwhile, Utah’s LPP program is just one component of the state’s multifaceted efforts to bolster access to justice. Earlier this year, the Utah Work Group on Regulatory Reform proposed a series of changes to the state’s regulation of the legal market, including a “regulatory sandbox” that would allow nontraditional legal entities to test out innovations without committing the unauthorized practice of law.

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The Utah Supreme Court approved the recommendations and implementation work is under way. The planned action steps will be evaluated for their effectiveness.

“We are not interested in empty gestures,” Himonas said. “I want to know that these things are working.”

Lyle Moran is a freelance writer in San Diego who handles both journalism and content writing projects. He previously reported for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript, Associated Press, and Lowell Sun. He can be reached at lmoransun@gmail.com and found on Twitter @lylemoran.

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