FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 23RD, 2026
California Supreme Court Opens Public Comment on Community Justice Worker Proposal to
Expand Access to Legal Help
Berkeley, California — The California Supreme Court has taken the next step in considering a
proposal to expand access to civil legal assistance. On Thursday, June 18th, the Court directed
the State Bar of California to solicit public comment on a proposed rule authorizing Community
Justice Worker (CJW) programs in California. Here is the Court’s press release and the proposed rule. The State Bar has not yet opened public comment.
The proposed model would allow eligible legal services organizations to train and supervise
Community Justice Workers—trusted community members, staff, and volunteers—to provide
limited legal advice and assistance under the supervision of legal aid attorneys. The proposal is
designed to help more Californians access reliable legal information and support while
maintaining strong protections for clients, including attorney oversight and a prohibition on
charging for services.
The proposed rule follows a petition filed in December 2025 by the California Community
Justice Worker Working Group, including the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC),
OneJustice, Legal Link, and legal aid organizations from across the state. The petition asked the
California Supreme Court to authorize a carefully structured CJW model that would expand the
capacity of nonprofit legal services organizations while ensuring quality, accountability, and
consumer protection.
Community Justice Workers are part of a growing national movement to address the
access-to-justice crisis. Frontline Justice has been a national leader in supporting this work, and
its Director Nikole Nelson previously served as Executive Director of Alaska Legal Services
Corporation when the Alaska Supreme Court authorized a similar model. In Alaska, CJWs have
helped clients secure more than $23.7 million in SNAP benefits. Other jurisdictions, including
Arizona, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, and Utah, have developed Community Justice Worker programs
demonstrating how trained nonlawyer advocates can help connect people with critical legal
support, particularly in the areas of domestic violence and housing.
The California proposal reflects lessons learned from these programs and includes significant
safeguards, including:
● CJW programs may only be operated by eligible nonprofit legal services organizations
under attorney supervision.
● CJWs would provide assistance only within defined areas of legal need and with
appropriate training and support.
● CJWs and legal services organizations would not be permitted to charge fees to the
client for CJW-provided legal services.
●Participating organizations would be required to establish training, supervision, quality
assurance, and accountability systems.
Overall, the proposal is intended to expand access to reliable legal help, not create a separate or
lower standard of assistance. By allowing trusted community members to be trained and
supervised by legal aid attorneys, the model could help nonprofit providers reach more people,
identify legal problems earlier, and connect clients to the right level of help before issues
become more serious.
“We are grateful that the California Supreme Court issued an order that advances the possibility
of adopting a Community Justice Worker model here in California,” said Salena Copeland,
Executive Director of LAAC. “We know that there is a huge need for additional legal helpers. If
adopted, this model will allow people who are already working in their communities, whether
at domestic violence shelters, food banks, community health clinics, or at other
community-based nonprofits, to do more.”
“This is a milestone for access to justice in California, and we’re grateful to the Court for taking
this step,” said Kate Crowley Richardson, Executive Director of Legal Link. “Trusted,
knowledgeable, community-embedded partners already exist in every neighborhood across this
state, they just haven’t had a formal, supervised pathway to do more. Legal Link has spent over
a decade training exactly these partners, and this order is the next chapter, a move toward more
inclusive, equitable access to legal protection for the people who’ve always needed it most.”
“What this order recognizes is something legal aid organizations have known for years: the
solution cannot come from lawyers alone. There are simply not enough of them available.
What we do have — in abundance — are trusted people already working inside our
communities. This order creates a supervised, accountable pathway for those individuals to do
more. California can do this, and do it well,” said Dana Marquez Richardson, Program Director at
OneJustice.
The State Bar’s 45-day public comment period is expected to open this week. The petitioners
are planning an information session for the nonprofit legal services community to discuss the
proposed rule, answer questions, and gather feedback to inform the public comment process.
Additionally, the petitioners are planning listening sessions to hear from the broader nonprofit
community, who may ultimately partner with legal services organizations in these projects.
While the proposed rule builds on the framework outlined in the petition, it is not identical to
the model proposed by the Working Group nor our petition, making comment essential. The
public comment period provides an important opportunity for legal services organizations,
community partners, and other stakeholders to review the Court’s proposed framework,
identify areas where additional clarity or improvements may be needed, and help shape the
implementation of a CJW model in California.
The working group has created a website with basic information on the petition, and have
linked the original CJW proposal based on our working group’s discussions. We will be updating
the site soon with information on how to comment, along with some key points, and will
continue updating and coordinating with our community during this exciting moment for access
to justice in our state.
LAAC, OneJustice, Legal Link, and the Community Justice Worker Working Group welcome input
from legal services organizations, community partners, and other interested stakeholders as
California considers this potential new approach to expanding access to justice.
Media Contacts:
Salena Copeland
LAAC, Executive Director
SCopeland@LAACOnline.org
Dana Marquez Richardson
OneJustice, Program Director
dmarquez@one-justice.org
Kate Crowley Richardson
Legal Link, Executive Director
kate@legallink.org