Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
An Independent Office of the Colorado Supreme Court
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Home > About Us > Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals: Program Plans and Updates
NEW! Frequently Asked Questions include links to rules, plus the family law core competencies that LLPs are expected to know.
The Supreme Court has published final rules on the authorized scope of the practice of law by licensed legal paraprofessionals, as well as their admissions requirements. The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel will publish additional information on its website in the coming weeks and months on other rule changes, an admissions process and timeline, and other important information. Please check back often!
Colorado currently does not license paralegals or other legal paraprofessionals, but that could change in the near future. After approving a preliminary report recommending that Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals (LLPs) be allowed to provide limited legal services in certain types of domestic relations cases, the Colorado Supreme Court requested that its Advisory Committee develop an implementation plan. Given that some 75% of litigants in domestic relations cases have no legal representation (“pro se”), LLPs could help fill the gap in representation, and would be allowed to assist clients directly in lower-asset marital dissolution, parentage, and allocation of parental responsibility (APR) cases. Other jurisdictions, including Utah, Arizona and Washington, already have similar programs to license paralegals or legal paraprofessionals with enhanced skills in limited legal practice areas.
The Advisory Committee formed working groups that included family law lawyers, ethics lawyers, judges, family court facilitators and other court personnel, paralegals, community college and law school representatives. The working groups developed an implementation plan that the Court put out for public comment. The Court also held a public hearing on the plan. The implementation plan and its attachments detail:
The initial report of the Paraprofessionals and Legal Services (“PALS”) Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee, which contains recommendations about Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals’ qualifications and scopes of practice, can be viewed here.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s February 2020 order requesting creation of the PALS Subcommittee can be viewed here. The Court’s June 2021 order requesting development of an implementation plan can be viewed here.
Updated information will be posted on this website when it becomes available.
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