The Rising Group in Facilitating Access to Justice: An Introduction and Reference to the Reform of American Quasi-legal Profession

Abstract

In recent years, the United States has carried out innovative reforms in the quasi-legal profession. Some states, by authorizing paralegals or creating new quasi-legal professional categories, allow them to practice independently within a certain scope after fulfilling some prerequisite training or examination requirements, instead of working traditionally supervised by lawyers. Due to their relatively low practice costs, these practi - tioners are also able to provide legal services to the public at a lower charging standard, which is of great sig- nificance for solving the "sandwich layer problem of access to justice". This paper introduces the quasi-legal profession reforms in some states of the United States and simultaneously summarizes six characteristics of these reforms. On this basis, it is proposed that other countries that also suffer from insufficient guarantee of the availability of lawyer services can critically draw on the innovative practices in the quasi-legal profession in the United States. By constructing an internal stratification mechanism for legal service providers, the goal of promoting access to justice can be achieved, enabling people to better feel fairness and justice.