By Jovana Fitzgerald, PBI Law Clerk
In August 2024, the Supreme Court of Georgia launched a committee to explore legal regulatory reform in an effort to address the significant civil justice gap in Georgia. After a year of research, the committee put forth its recommendations for measures to support low-income and rural Georgians.
The Civil Justice Gap in Georgia
In the South, more than 22 million individuals have household incomes that fall below 125 percent of the poverty threshold. In Georgia, more than 1.4 million people are considered below the poverty threshold. In 2023, Georgia courts saw more than 420,000 cases with at least one self-represented party, approximately 38.75% of all civil cases.
- The Problem: The 2022 Justice Gap Study from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) revealed that in a year, about three out of four (74%) low-income households experienced at least one civil legal problem, with about two out of five (39%) low-income households experiencing more than five civil legal problems.
- Challenges to Current System: At least 75% of Georgians had to represent themselves in 2023. “Deficiencies in procedure – not the merits of the case – drive outcomes”, thus the outcomes of cases where litigants proceed without legal assistance may differ had they received knowledgeable legal assistance.
- Affected Population: Out of Georgia’s 156 counties, 120 are rural. The civil justice gap is exacerbated in rural communities, where 94% of rural residents do not receive any or enough help for their civil legal needs.
- Lack of Resources: In 2022, LSC-funded organizations were forced to turn away half of all requests received due to limited resources. Even for those who can afford a lawyer’s services, access can remain an issue, especially in rural communities. Notwithstanding the substantially rural composition of Georgia, 70% of Georgia attorneys reside and work within the five counties surrounding the Atlanta metro area.
The lack of legal support for low-income individuals can have a devastating impact on matters that can drastically affect one’s life, health, and livelihood — housing, employment, health benefits, family, and safety. Because rural communities have a lower percentage of attorneys per capita, their residents have more limited access to legal services, making the need for non-traditional solutions even more critical.
How Georgia is Seeking to Remedy the Civil Justice Gap for Georgians
The Committee on Legal Regulatory Reform recently recommended multiple initiatives to the Georgia Supreme Court to help bridge the civil justice gap. The most prominent change would be the introduction of a pilot program allowing nonlawyers to assist individuals in a limited legal capacity as Limited Licensed Legal Practitioners (LLLPs).
- Scope of Services: If implemented, the pilot program would permit LLLPs to provide limited legal advice and forms assistance in housing and consumer debt cases. This is an “assisted pro se” model, meaning litigants would continue to represent themselves in court but receive advice and assistance as they address legal issues in the identified areas.
- Eligibility and Certification: LLLPs would be eligible based on employment or affiliation with an approved legal services provider or community-based organization formally involved with the pilot program. An educational requirement (g., a J.D., paralegal degree, or paralegal’s certificate) or an experience requirement, as determined by the entity that certifies the LLLPs (e.g., work as a clerk or paralegal, or experience with people who need legal services) would also be needed to be eligible. Once eligibility is determined and training is completed, LLLPs would need to be certified through a combination of (1) an exam testing on procedural knowledge of relevant subject matters and (2) a portfolio of written material to assess the skills needed to complete the documents they are likely to produce in practice.
- Training: The training would be provided by a legal aid partner site implementation committee and would involve asynchronous and remote components. Local pilot sites would also receive in-person skills-based training.
- Mentoring and Oversight: Once training and certification are completed, LLLPs would observe court proceedings and shadow an attorney. The LLLPs would be fully licensed at the end of the provisional period and able to provide legal advice and work independently in the specified legal area. LLLPs would not be supervised by an attorney but would need to have an attorney mentor. Attorney mentors may be employed by the same organization as the LLLP or by a separate organization if the LLLP is employed by a community-based organization. LLLPs would be required to follow the same rules of professional conduct and ethics as Georgia attorneys, and a governing body would be implemented to respond to and investigate any disciplinary matters.
- Addressing Concerns: By implementing a limited pilot program, Georgia would be able to observe and address any issues or concerns that might arise and make any necessary changes before expansion or permanent implementation.
Pilot Program Implementation
- Initial Phase: The first three years of the program would operate as proposed above. Additionally, the Legal Regulatory Reform committee recommended establishing a committee tasked with orchestrating and monitoring the pilot program and evaluating the program’s success.
- Future of the Program: If the initial pilot is successful, the program will be made permanent in its fourth year and begin expansion. During this time, the program would continue to be studied, and further expansion of the program designed. Then, from the fifth through the eighth year, a second pilot expansion program would be conducted, or an expansion would be fully implemented without a pilot based on the success of the initial program.
Additional Innovations to Expand Access to Justice
- CLE Credits for Pro Bono: The Committee recommends adopting a rule that allows attorneys to earn Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit for engaging in pro bono service, subject to limitations, furthering the Court’s interest in promoting pro bono and ensuring ongoing professional competence through CLE. The Committee also recommends allowing attorneys to satisfy the 1-hour professionalism credit requirement through pro bono work without the need for accompanying training.
- Inactive Attorneys + Pro Bono: The Committee also recommended adopting a rule that allows attorneys with inactive Georgia law licenses to engage in pro bono through a pro bono license status.
- Expanding Out-of-State Attorneys’ Ability to Provide Pro Bono Service: The committee recommends changes to its Extended Public Service Program by adopting a rule that would eliminate some of the current requirements for out-of-state lawyers to engage in pro bono and would mirror the proposed rule change for inactive attorneys. To participate, out-of-state pro bono attorneys would need to have an active bar status, be in good standing, and have no disqualifying disciplinary history (as confirmed through a character and fitness assessment).
Potential Impact
Introduction of nonlawyer legal service providers would allow individuals who already have regular contact with low-income Georgians to be able to support them further and empower them to resolve critical housing and consumer-debt matters, likely with better outcomes. It would also facilitate a quicker resolution of legal issues and a lightening of courts’ dockets as protracted cases litigated by pro se parties become more streamlined through limited legal assistance. By collecting data throughout the pilot program, Georgia will be able to measure the impact of the program and use that data to inform future evidence-based access to justice efforts.
The Growing Trend of Nonlawyer Legal Service Providers
The legal industry, like many others, is constantly undergoing evolution. See this chart to better understand some of these recent changes which include licensed legal paraprofessionals and other types of nonlegal service providers.
Make Your Voice Heard
Providing public comment is essential to the successful adoption of these programs. Members of the public who would like to comment on the recommendations provided by the Committee on Legal Regulatory Reform in Georgia can email their comments to comments@gasupreme.us by October 2, 2025.
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