New York commission group report recommends licensing social workers to provide limited legal services

Hello everyone and welcome to this Ethics Alert, which will discuss recent report and recommendations of a New York commission working group, which recommends, inter alia, the licensing of social workers to perform legal services.  The Report and Recommendations of the Working Group of the New York Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York’s Courts is here: https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/publications/RWG-RegulatoryInnovation_Final_12.2.20.pdf. 

The working group’s report states that social workers often work closely with lawyers in serving clients who are challenges in their lives, including eviction and child custody issues.  Social workers also have experience advocating for clients and representing them in meetings that may affect their interactions with the legal system.  In addition, many individuals face civil legal issues and are not represented because they cannot afford legal assistance.

The working group unanimously recommended that New York create a program to train and license social workers to provide limited legal services for clients, including limited court representation.  The working group report also states that social workers could serve as “a potential forerunner of other possibilities” for using nonlawyers to address access-to-justice issues.

The group also recommended expanding New York’s Court Navigator Program, which permits non-lawyers to provide services to eligible unrepresented litigants which do not constitute the practice of law. The proposed expansion of that program would include training and permitting navigators to conduct some legal work.  The report advised against alternative business structures, including non-lawyer ownership of law firms, for the time being.

The report states that there are “challenges that would have to be overcome if social workers were empowered to give traditional legal advice to their clients”, including the different ethics rules and the issue of malpractice insurance coverage.

The report also states that extent of the limited legal services non-lawyer social workers would be able to provide, whether a new license should be created, and how much additional education and practical training would be required before permitting social workers to provide the limited legal services has not been determined.  In addition, the report states that implementation of the proposal will require collaboration with schools that teach social work and law schools to develop the appropriate academic curriculum.

If New York ultimately decides to authorize social workers to provide limited legal services, it would become the state with the largest population (of both persons and lawyers) to implement such a program and the first to authorize this type of expansion of non-lawyer legal services.  Washington and Utah previously launched nonlawyer licensing programs which primarily included paralegals.  Washington’s program is also being discontinued.  Arizona’s Supreme Court approved a legal paraprofessionals program which became effective on Jan. 1, 2021.  Minnesota is planning to start a pilot paraprofessional initiative in March 2021 and California and other states are reviewing whether to implement a new paraprofessional legal license.

Bottom line:  New York now enters the national conversation and trend regarding authorization of non-lawyer practice of law.  I will continue to monitor this trend and keep everyone advised.

            Stay safe and healthy and be careful out there.

Disclaimer:  this e-mail is not an advertisement, does not contain any legal advice, and does not create an attorney/client relationship and the comments herein should not be relied upon by anyone who reads it.

Joseph A. Corsmeier, Esquire

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