North Carolina Suit Aims to Broaden Who Can Provide Legal Advice

A nonprofit group in North Carolina is challenging the state’s restrictions on non-lawyers providing legal advice.

A suit filed by a pair certified paralegals, Morag Black Polaski and Shawana Almendarez, and the North Carolina Justice for All Project claims the prohibition amounts to an unconstitutional violation of free speech and unfairly limits access to justice for those with insufficient disposable income to afford what most attorneys charge.

The changes would allow trained nonlaywers to provide assistance to civil-case litigants where unmet needs “can lead to loss of housing, safety concerns, and future criminal problems,” plaintiffs said in their federal complaint against North Carolina attorney general Josh Stein, filed Thursday in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The plaintiffs argue that relaxing the state’s unauthorized practice of law rules would allow for the training of paralegals and other nonlawyers so they offer residents “simple legal advice” about how to properly fill out court forms to assist landlord-tenant disputes, certain types of divorces, protective orders, and other legal matters.

“Unfortunately, hiring a lawyer to provide that advice is too expensive for many North Carolinians,” plaintiffs wrote. “This is true not just for the poor, but for the ‘missing middle'—those North Carolinians who earn too much money to qualify for free legal assistance from groups like Legal Aid, but not enough to afford an attorney.”

Plaintiffs have a First Amendment right to be able to give this type of advice, they said in their complaint, “and the North Carolinians they would advise have a First Amendment right to hear it.” That’s because advice of all types, even expert advice on technical subjects, is speech.

In response to questions, North Carolina Department of Justice deputy press secretary Olivia Weidie said, “We are currently reviewing the complaint.”

Though the poor may be disproportionately affected, North Carolina’s access to justice gap also includes the “missing middle,” moderate-income residents who are ineligible for legal aid, but also cannot afford a lawyer. About 26.5% of North Carolinians make up the so-called missing middle, they said.

Eight other states and Washington, DC are also considering or implementing programs to license non-lawyers to allow them to provide limited legal advice.

The case is Black Polaski et al v. Stein, E.D.N.C., 7:24-cv-00004, 1/4/24.