In some areas of law where people are desperate, traumatized, and struggling, people have jumped in to take advantage of them.
In Washington state, paralegals are prohibited from practicing law without a license. However they may perform certain tasks under the supervision of a lawyer. For information see this Washington State Bar Association on a Paralegal’s role: https://wabarnews.org/2023/12/15/the-power-of-paralegals/.
If you are wondering what constitutes the practice of law see the rule below:
Paralegals, from other states have been offering to do practice of law tasks like drafting documents for people. This is completely impermissible without the supervision of a lawyer. And even worse, a lawyer not licensed to practice law in Washington cannot practice law in Washington.
This means that a paralegal in another state, unless they were being supervised by Washington lawyer, even being supervised by a lawyer in that state would not be permitted to do any type of drafting of documents or otherwise in this state.
My recommendation, if someone contacts you asking to help you do tasks in your case, and they are an unsupervised paralegal, immediately inform them, they are engaging in unauthorized practice of law and report them to the Washington State Bar Association.
But in any case, do not pay them money for any type of representation. There are LLLT’s who can practice law, see the article on them on this website. There are also many low-bono attorneys who can help you at a lower cost.
Author:
Jordan Kostelyk, Attorney
She has a virtual practice found here: everlastinglegalsolutions.com.
She practices in unbundled family law services, probate throughout Washington state, and estate planning. She, of course offers low-bono services.