Nonlawyers who receive training will now be able to help with civil matters in D.C., as part of a new order issued by D.C. Courts earlier this month that expands access to legal assistance for people without an attorney.
The rule, scheduled to take effect in April, creates a framework for Community Justice Workers, or nonlawyers who are supervised and trained to offer limited legal assistance through a partnership with legal services organizations.
The step comes after a yearslong assessment into the possible role for nonlawyers in offering certain types of legal help to D.C. residents.
As of 2017, 97% of plaintiffs in paternity and child support cases, and in small estate matters, represent themselves in D.C. Superior Court, according to a 2025 report from the District of Columbia Courts Civil Legal Regulatory Reform Task Force.
“We are facing an extraordinary need,” said Nancy Drane, executive director of D.C.’s Access to Justice Commission. “There are thousands of District residents who are not getting the legal help they need.”
The Community Justice Worker model could be compared to seeing a nurse practitioner in a doctor’s office. Ariel Levinson-Waldman, director of nonprofit Tzedek D.C., said someone who goes through a supervised program would be able to provide help, “just like your nurse practitioner does.”
Tzedek D.C. offers pro bono legal help and financial counseling. But, Levinson-Waldman said, there are thousands of people who are eligible for their services and the work of similar providers, and only a select few are available to help.
“Many of the court’s high-volume dockets are cases where the individual D.C. resident is not getting any help,” he said. “This effort, we saw that as a way to change that, to bring more people into opportunities for access to justice, to bring more resources to the problem.”
Whether it be divorce, custody cases, small claims or child support cases, the stakes are high.
Without an attorney or someone who can help in some way, cases often go “less well than it would have. It impacts their family, their future, their finances, sometimes access to the custody of their children,” Levinson-Waldman said.
In some instances, Drane said people experiencing issues such as eviction or family conflict navigate cases without help from a lawyer because legal help is expensive. Free legal service groups have limited capacities and budgets.
Under the Community Justice Worker model, organizations could either train their own staffs to help or partner with community nonprofits.
“What this would mean, practically, is that we will have more helpers in the community who are trained and authorized to provide certain types of legal help,” Drane said. “The real beauty of Community Justice Workers is that they receive what I would call ‘bite-sized training for bite-sized tasks.’”
Karen Dale, market president and CEO of AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, said people “need assistance, they need support. Having someone by your side to help you navigate with a level of specificity, get you to the right resources in a timely way, should be able to help less lives and families and communities get derailed.”
The approach, Levinson-Waldman said, will provide a formal way for “public spirited” volunteers to help their neighbors.
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