A New Era of Legal Access in Texas

The state has finalized new rules creating two legal certifications for trained non-attorneys — the Licensed Legal Paraprofessional and the Licensed Court-Access Assistant.

For the first time, people without a law degree will be able to earn a license to provide certain kinds of legal help, reaching Texans who have too often had nowhere to turn.

Millions of Texans face civil legal problems — evictions, family matters, consumer debt — without any help at all. These new certifications create a trained, accountable, and licensed way to meet that need.

It is a change with the potential to reshape how everyday people reach the legal system, in Texas and as a model well beyond it.

Over the past [time period], the Economic Justice Initiative has built the foundation to put a framework like this to use.

We have grown a fellowship program placing legal talent in communities across Texas, launched community justice worker pilots that test new models of community-based legal help, and created the EJI Learning Lab — a growing library of training built to bring non-attorneys up to speed on the law and on competent, ethical practice.

That groundwork means we are not starting from scratch. We are ready to help turn these rules into real access — and to do it carefully.