Covid Highlights Need to Broaden Legal Providers, Panel Says

Crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic highlights the need for changes in the U.S. to close the access-to-justice gap for the poor by relaxing rules on who can provide legal services, an ethics panel said.

If you think there’s a problem now, “we haven’t seen anything yet,” London-based consultancy co-founder Alison Hook said at the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers’ annual meeting.

Hook’s firm, Hook Tangaza, advises the legal services sector. The U.K. is widely considered to be ahead of the U.S. in offering alternatives to meet legal needs.

The panel also featured a state court judge and the ...