.png/:/cr=t:1.87%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:96.26%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true)
Many Californians cannot afford a lawyer when they need one, so people at all income levels go without legal help even when they have a legal problem. It’s called the justice gap:
- A majority of Californians at all income levels experience at least one legal problem in a given year, yet they received inadequate or no legal help for 85 percent of their reported legal problems.
- Nearly 12 million California adults in households earning enough that they cannot access free legal aid experience at least one civil legal problem in a year.
- A Californian with an annual salary of $75,000 would have to work nearly 10 hours to pay for one hour of legal services, at the average hourly rate of a California attorney: approximately $400 in 2025.
- Many other first responders—those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic—would have an even greater challenge. For example:
- A Licensed Vocational Nurse, at median annual income, would have to work nearly 13 hours to afford one hour of legal assistance.
- An Emergency Medical Technician at median income would have to work more than 18 hours!
Licensing legal paraprofessionals squarely addresses the cost component of the justice gap. These practitioners serve the significantly unmet civil legal needs of Californians who do not qualify for free civil legal aid.