News Item
Legal community asked to participate in survey about the role and work of legal paraprofessionals

Posted: Wednesday, September 11, 2019

The Implementation Committee for the Proposed Legal Paraprofessional Pilot Project has launched a survey aimed at learning from the Minnesota legal community about how legal paraprofessionals currently support attorneys. The Implementation Committee is co-chaired by Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Paul Thissen and Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge John Rodenberg. The Committee’s survey is intended to help determine the scope of the eventual Pilot that will determine if the expanded use of paralegals may increase access to civil legal representation in case types where one or both parties typically appear without legal representation. The survey will be open starting September 11, 2019, and will close on Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

Under the Supreme Court’s order, the scope of the potential legal paraprofessional work that the Implementation Committee is to consider is limited to providing “legal advice” and “in some cases representing” clients or parties in either creditor-debtor disputes, housing disputes, or family law matters under the supervision of a licensed Minnesota attorney. The Implementation Committee for the Proposed Legal Paraprofessional Pilot Project was first announced in March 2019.

Anyone interested in receiving communications about the Implementation Committee’s work and the Pilot Project may sign up to receive updates on the Implementation Committee’s webpage, http://www.mncourts.gov/Implementation-Committee.aspx.