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Legal Document Assistants

WHAT IS AN LDA?
California law authorizes non-attorneys called "Legal Document Assistants" to prepare forms for consumers who wish to handle their own business and legal affairs.

Legal Document Assistants (LDAs) are trained professionals who assist self-represented persons prepare and file court documents. Like paralegals, LDAs have training and educational requirements. Unlike paralegals, who are prohibited by Business & Professions code section 6450 from assisting or contracting with consumers directly, an LDA works for the public. LDAs are required to be bonded and must register with the County Clerk in the counties in which they do business. LDAs are prohibited from giving legal advice, however they are expressly authorized by the Business and Professions Code 6400 et seq. to provide attorney-prepared or attorney-approved information to consumers so that consumers can make their own intelligent legal decisions.

BIZIE LADIE, INC.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF USING AN LDA
In our experience, the courts and the traditional legal industry knows very little about the LDA profession. However, in this era of shrinking court budgets and increasing mandates to offer meaningful assistance to self-represented litigants, LDAs offer a vast and untapped opportunity to the court by assisting these self-represented individuals.

As shown by the Elkins v. Superior Court (2007) 41 Cal.4th 1337, 1368 [163 P.3d 160], and the subsequent task force, self-represented litigants have substantial difficulty navigating the legal system and thereby place a huge burden on the court system. Many very intelligent people struggle with submitting their uncontested judgments while trying to decipher forms, terms, and procedures they simply do not understand. Others find themselves completely unequipped to properly prepare for a courtroom setting that is totally unfamiliar to most people.

Legal Document Assistants can help.

"…more than 75 percent of family law cases, in many communities, have at least one self-represented party”.

 - Elkins Task Force Report and Recommendations, found at http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/elkins-finalreport.pdf

The average self-represented litigant does not want to take a day off of work to seek assistance from a free self-help center at the court (and in most cases, they cannot afford to anyway). On the contrary, these consumers of the court system are more likely to be able to pay a reasonable fee to hire a trained person who can provide them two important things:

(1) High-quality legal information written or approved by attorneys, for making their own legal decisions, and

(2) High-quality document preparation and filing services for them.

This is exactly what LDAs do. Promoting the utilization of LDA services will relieve the burden on the courts and the self-help centers, and will make access to justice attainable to persons who are representing themselves. Below, for your convenience, are citation links regarding the Legal Document Assistant:

Authority cited from the California Business & Professions Code:

Definition of an Unlawful Detainer Assistant/Legal Document Assistant
Sections 6401-6401.6

Definition of a Paralegal
Sections 6450-6456

The Duties of a Legal Document Assistant
Sections 6408-6415

How to Become a Legal Document Assistant
Sections 6402-6407

Corporate LDA Registration requirements
Sections 6405

Unauthorized Practice of Law ("UPL")
Sections 6125-6133