Berkeley, California — On Friday, September 19th, the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees voted to advance proposed rules to the California Supreme Court that would authorize a Community Justice Worker (CJW) model. A coalition of legal aid organizations have worked tirelessly to study the model in other states, developed draft rules for California, and petitioned the California Supreme Court in December of 2025 to approve the rules. 
 

After the California Supreme Court issued an order on June 18th to direct the State Bar to open up a 45 day public comment period, the State Bar Board of Trustees met on September 18th and 19th to discuss public comment, which was overwhelmingly supportive. Though the staff memo posted on Monday night recommended that the Board of Trustees hold the item until November for more discussion, significant public comment on the first day of the meeting convinced the Trustees that action was needed. Trustees directed State Bar staff to return the following day with updates to the proposed rules, consistent with public comment. 
 

“I am extremely grateful to State Bar staff, and particularly to Erika Doherty and Doan Nguyen, for their willingness to pivot from their initial staff recommendation to the Board’s request to have language the following day. The redline rules that Ms. Doherty presented to the Board of Trustees were thoughtful and reflected much of what we heard in public comment from our community,” said Salena Copeland, Executive Director of LAAC. “We are so grateful that the Board of Trustees were ready to act. Several Trustees understand the access to justice crisis in our state and the need for more legal helpers now.”
 

“Given the strong support from the Board of Trustees by acting now, we expect the California Supreme Court to act before the end of the year. It’s possible that we could start training CJWs as early as next spring,” said Kate Crowley Richardson, Executive Director of Legal Link.
 

“Organizations launching a CJW Program don’t need to start from scratch,” she added. “Legal Link’s Legal First Aid® curriculum, refined through more than a decade of training frontline workers statewide, provides a strong foundation for key requirements, including issue spotting, referrals, ethical practice, confidentiality, and competency assessment. Building on this framework can help authorized legal services organizations get their programs off the ground faster.”
 

“Bet Tzedek's decades of work with partners ranging from schools to medical facilities, worker centers, and numerous social services agencies have clearly illustrated the importance and power of matching the guidance and knowledge of legal aid advocates with the talent and insight of community members with lived experience,” said Diego Cartagena, President and CEO of Bet Tzedek. “The move toward making a CJW model real in California will helpfully fully realize the impact of such partnerships.”
 

“This is an exciting step toward expanding the reach of legal aid by recognizing one of our greatest assets: the people in our communities,” said Jessica Manriquez Jewell, Executive Director and CEO of California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. “We know justice starts with community. Community members bring lived experience, trusted relationships, and insights that can make our advocacy stronger and more responsive. By pairing that expertise with training, supervision, and support from legal aid attorneys, we can reach more people.”
 

“Public Law Center would love to bring this model to our own community,” said Monica Eav Glicken, Executive Director and CEO of Public Law Center. “This kind of innovation, grounded in community care and girded by attorney supervision, is exactly what we need to bring justice within reach of more people.”
 

The coalition maintains a website with basic information on the petition, including the original CJW proposal based on a working group’s discussions. We will continue to share updates on the process during this exciting moment for access to justice in our state.

 

Media Contacts

Salena Copeland
LAAC, Executive Director
SCopeland@LAACOnline.org

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Kate Crowley Richardson
Legal Link, Executive Director
Kate@LegalLink.org