A program designed to get you a legal advocate for your rights at reduced cost.
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Lewis Labadie is proud to say that Amber Labadie is one of the first ten (10) licensed Legal Paraprofessionals in the State of Arizona.
The Arizona Legal Paraprofessionals program is designed to help deliver specific kinds of legal and consulting services at significantly reduced cost. We want to help you make the most informed legal decisions possible – addressing the following:
What kinds of services are Arizona Legal Paraprofessionals authorized to perform?
Important definitions to help you navigate the LP space.
Is a Legal Paraprofessional a good fit for your legal concerns?
How can a Legal Paraprofessional save in legal expenses?
Legal Paraprofessionals’s are bound by the LP-client privilege the same as attorneys are bound by the attorney-client privilege, which means anything the client and LP discuss is protected.
Consultations
Providing advice, opinions, or recommendations about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options or strategies.
Representation
Providing clients with representation in their family law or civil matter.
Legal Documents
Drafting, signing, and filing legal pleadings and other documents, including initiating and responding to actions, related motions, discovery, interim and final orders, and modification of orders.
Mediations
Meeting between parties outside of a court hearing.
Courtroom Appearances
Appearing before a court, arbitration and settlement conferences where not prohibited by the rules and procedures of the forum.
Negotiation
Working on behalf of a client to negotiate legal rights or responsibilities for a specific person or entity.
Adoptions
Agency Adoptions
Alimony
Annulment
Assisted Reproductive Technology
Child Abuse and Neglect
Child Advocacy
Child Custody
Child Custody Mediation
Child Support
Cohabitation Agreements
Collaborative Family Law
Community Property Law
Divorce
Divorce Arbitration
Divorce Mediation
Domestic Partnerships
Domestic Relations
Equitable Distribution
Family Arbitration
Family Mediation
Fathers Rights
Foster Care
Gay and Lesbian Family Law
Grandparents Custody
Grandparents Visitation Rights
Independent Adoptions
International Adoptions
Interstate Adoptions
Interstate Child Custody
Interstate Support
Juvenile Law
Legal Separation
Marital Agreements
Marital Property Distribution
Marital Property Law
Marital Property Settlements
Name Changes
No Fault Divorce
Non-Traditional Family Law
Parental Rights
Parenting Time
Paternity
Post-Divorce Modification
Postnuptial Agreements
Premarital Agreements
Private Adoptions
Same Sex Marriage
Spousal Support
Step Parent Adoptions
Surrogacy Law
Termination of Parental Rights
Third Party Custody
Uncontested Divorce
Visitation Rights
One very common question people wonder when creating a trust is, “Do I need a will if I have a trust?” The simple answer is, “Yes.”
Here are some common terms you’ll see as you look through the material on this page and in related resources. Definitions are specific to the context of the Legal Paraprofessional Program and to help you gain added context.
Advocacy
Course content or practical experience that demonstrates and develops skills that are associated with conducting court hearings and trials, administrative hearings, mediation and arbitration, and settlement and plea negotiation.
Board
The Board of Nonlawyer Legal Service Providers.
Civil Procedures Course
At least 3 credits from a course dedicated to civil procedure and the remaining required credits can be obtained through a course or courses that cover an area of civil law, such as administrative law, if the course includes procedural law content.
Experiential Learning
Learning through a format such as an internship, externship or clinical experience during which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting.
Legal Paraprofessional (LP)
An individual licensed pursuant to this section to provide legal services without the supervision of an attorney in the areas of law and within the scope of practice defined herein.
Legal Specialization Course
A course that covers substantive law or legal procedures and that was developed specifically for, and that teaches practical skills needed by, paralegals or legal paraprofessionals. For clarity, courses in general “business law” designed for undergraduate or graduate business curriculums and law-related courses that focus solely on theory do not qualify as a legal specialization course.
Substantive Law-Related Experience
The provision of legal services as a paralegal or paralegal student including, but not limited to, drafting pleadings, legal documents or correspondence, completing forms, preparing reports or charts, legal research, and interviewing clients or witnesses in the area(s) or practice the applicant seeks to be licensed.
Substantive law-related experience does not include routine clerical or administrative duties.
The following resources outline what an Arizona Legal Paraprofessional can and cannot do for you, and how you can save significant legal costs under the right circumstances.
The main reason for this change is the creation of a new license for a Legal Paraprofessional (LP). LPs will revolutionize the legal field. LPs are not discount attorneys nor are they legal document preparers. Instead, LPs are highly experienced professionals who can assist clients at a reasonable fee that is less than the traditional attorney’s hourly/flat fees. An LP is a professional with specific education and experience, who is licensed (like attorneys) by the Supreme Court to provide legal services in limited practice areas.
A Legal Paraprofessional (“LP”) is a professional comparable to a nurse practitioner to a physician and is basically between a paralegal and an attorney in the legal field. Although a few restrictions are in place, LPs can provide full legal services in family law, juvenile, civil, criminal, and administrative matters. In family law, they are unable to handle QDRO’s, appeals, or divorces that are dividing business entities.
On November 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of Arizona established a Task Force on the Delivery of Legal Services. Here is the task force’s October 4, 2019 Report and Recommendations.
Most clients also want their preferred outcome while saving money. An LP can effectively handle matters at a significantly reduced cost to you. This includes consulting with clients, giving legal advice, drafting pleadings and motions, appearing in Court, and finalizing your case. An LP can charge either hourly (less hourly rate than attorneys) or a flat fee (bundled) type of fee. Our firm wants to help clients understand their case and rights.
One thing mentioned over and over is “unbundled services.” In essence, the LP can represent the client in a limited scope for a specific issue or item. The client only pays for what he or she needs.
For example, if a client needs help with a document or hearing, the LP is encouraged to help with smaller unbundled services. Whereas most attorneys are hired for an entire case and the cost can be extensive. This helps those afford legal service even though the client cannot pay a large retainer.
An LP license is not easy to obtain, which is why there are not a lot of LP’s in Arizona. The applicant must qualify either through education or experience. This link below is a useful chart that explains the requirements and path for licensure. They are required to take a three (3) hour core test (Professional Responsibility or Ethics) and then three (3) hour exams in each field they wish to be licensed. Testing is on legal terminology, substantive law, client communication, data gathering, document preparation, and ethics. And after passing the exams, each applicant must undergo an extensive background check and must meet the Supreme Court’s standards to be licensed. Any issues that come up may require additional explanation or even hearings before the State Bar of Arizona.
Arizona Legal Paraprofessional Program Licensing Requirements
The first hurdle involved the ethical restrictions in place on attorneys and non-attorneys jointly conducting business. The Task Force removed many of these restrictions. Attorneys and LPs can work and operate businesses jointly or independently.
An LP cannot handle family law matters involving businesses, QDRO’s or orders dividing retirement accounts, and they cannot handle an Appeal to the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court. An LP also cannot handle family law matters involving division or conveyance of formal business entities or commercial property.Our attorneys can help with these matters. For example, the LP can prepare and file the Notice of Appeal but then an attorney would need to be hired to handle the appeal.
The State of Arizona has not begun testing for administrative law yet. For now, licenses are being issued that only cover family law, which includes juvenile, criminal and civil. Our LP is licensed in Family law and waiting for her license in civil.
Repository of related official documents issued by the State of Arizona.
