Brief Background
Washington has a unique licensed legal professional that most states do not have–this person is called a Limited License Legal Technician (LLLT). Though they have a very limited scope as compared to lawyers they could be vital to a person completing their family law case while keeping costs very low.
The program which allowed people to become licensed as LLLTs has been sunset by the Washington Supreme Court in 2020. Yet, there are still a group of professionals who were already licensed and are able to help you with your family law matters. Find a list of them on this website.
What can they help with?
These professionals have basically a limited license to help in the legal areas of family law. This means that if you need help with estate planning, housing law, criminal law, or any other area of law, you will need an attorney. Find a list of attorneys who can help in other areas on this website as well.
These professionals can help with many aspects of your family law case; Some examples of areas they are not able help with are: represent you in court, participate in formal alternative dispute resolutions or defend depositions. However, they can help with drafting documents, filing and serving them, informal negotiations, writing letters to the other party, and they can guide you on what good arguments might be to present in court. For more details on what exactly they can help with please see the rule APR 28.
What kind of training and qualifications are they required to have and are they regulated?
LLLTs are required to have the following experience and education:
They also take an exam in the area, in which they are licensed to practice law. Further, they are required to also take Continuing Legal Education credits (CLE)s.
Why hire a LLLT and not a attorney?
Cost is one the biggest reasons. One of the main reasons the program was originally enacted was to help make family law more affordable for pro se litigants (self-represented litigants). These were people who could not afford the high attorney rates and found themselves with little to no help in their family law cases. A LLLT can provide you just as much guidance and advice that an attorney could provide in filling out the required family law forms for your case and the procedure of the case.
Of course, I can’t guarantee that the LLLTs will always be cheaper than a lawyer. Each lawyer, especially in the low-bono area, will charge varying rates. Some lawyers really lower their rates when working on sliding scale. Generally, though, in comparison to attorneys who don’t practice in the low-bono areas you have LLLTs who can provide many of the same services in the area of family law at a fraction of the cost.
You can also mix and match. You could have a LLLTs perform the areas of services which they are able to perform and then have an attorney jump in and help with the areas which the LLLT is unable to help with. This helps to keep the attorney’s fees down because they aren’t handling every aspect of the case, even the aspects which could easily be handled by a LLLT.
This blog was written by Jordan Kostelyk an attorney in Washington state. Visit her website for more information about her.