California Supreme Court Opens Public Comment on Community Justice Worker Proposal to Expand Access to Legal Help
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.
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.
The court’s order marks a meaningful step forward in California’s effort to close the justice gap.
The statistics speak for themselves: 85 percent of Californians facing civil legal problems receive little or no legal help, and in housing and debt cases, 80 to 90 percent of parties have no lawyer at all. That is not a gap — it is a chasm, and it falls hardest on the people who are already most vulnerable.
“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.
This order creates a supervised, accountable pathway for those individuals to do more — and the consumer protections are strong. We have watched justice advocates in Alaska double the number of clients served in a single year through this model, and Utah advocates help clients obtain protective orders at twice the statewide rate.
We look forward to engaging fully in the 45-day public comment period.