Licensed Legal Paraprofessional's
Scope of Practice

(1)    Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals (“LLPs”) are individuals licensed by the Supreme Court to perform certain types of legal services only under the conditions set forth by the Court. They do not include individuals with a general license to practice law in Colorado (a/k/a attorneys).

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(2)    The scope of an LLP’s practice includes the following:

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(a)    An LLP may represent a client in a legal separation, declaration of invalidity of marriage, or dissolution of a marriage and dissolution of a civil union.

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(b)    An LLP may represent a client in an initial allocation or a modification of parental responsibilities or parentage cases, including representing parties in a parentage matter that initially had disputes in which more than two parents or alleged parents asserted or denied legal parentage once parentage has been determined by the court.

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(c)    An LLP may represent a client in a matter involving establishment or modification of child support and/or maintenance.

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(d)    An LLP may represent a client in protection orders, name changes, and adult gender designation changes.

 

(e)    An LLP’s may represent a client in filing and responding to motions for remedial contempt citations under C.R.C.P. 107 in the matters listed above in (2)(a) – (2)(e).

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(3)    Even if an LLP is authorized to represent a client in the matters listed above in (2)(a) – (2)(e), an LLP is not authorized to represent a client in resolving any of the following discrete issues that arise in an otherwise authorized representation:

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(a)    the registration of foreign orders;

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(b)    motions for or orders regarding punitive contempt citations under C.R.C.P. 107;

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(c)    an allegation of common law marriage in which either party disputes the existence of a common law marriage or the date when the common law marriage formed;

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(d)    disputed parentage where there are more than two parents or alleged parents asserting or denying legal parentage;

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(e)    a non-parent’s request for decision-making authority or parenting time is contested by at least one parent and the court has determined that the Indian Child Welfare Act applies to the proceeding, except as otherwise provided by law;

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(f)    preparation of or litigation regarding pre- or post-nuptial agreements;

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(g)    a dispute about the value of or income associated with a trust in which a party is a beneficiary;

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(h)    a dispute about a jurisdictional issue of the court over any issue in the matter;

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(i)    [Reserved];

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(j)    the preparation by the LLP of documents, other than an agreement addressing underlying property division, needed to effectuate the sale or distribution of assets of a business entity or commercial property;

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(k)    [Reserved]; or

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(l)    issues collateral to, but directly affecting, a matter which falls within the LLP’s scope of practice when such issues require analysis and advice outside that scope of practice, such as immigration, criminal, and bankruptcy issues or the preparation of a qualified domestic relations order (“QDRO”) or other similar document implementing the division of retirement assets that could directly affect the resolution of the matter.

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(4)    Within the types of matters and authorizations to practice law identified above, an LLP may represent the interests of a client by:

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(a)    establishing a contractual relationship with the client;

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(b)    interviewing the client to understand the client’s objectives and obtaining information relevant to achieving that objective;

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(c)    informing, counseling, advising, and assisting the client in determining which form to template (among those approved by the Judicial Department or the Supreme Court, or generally accepted by Colorado courts having jurisdiction over the matter to use as the basis for a document in a matter, and advising the client on how to complete a form or provide information for a document;

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(d)    preparing and completing documents using forms or templates approved by the Judicial Department or the Supreme Court, or generally accepted by Colorado courts having jurisdiction over the matter, including proposed parenting plans, separation agreements, motions or stipulations for establishing or modifying child support, child support worksheets, proposed orders, nonappearance affidavits, discovery requests and answers to discovery requests, trial management certificates, pretrial submissions, and exhibit and witness lists;

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(e)    obtaining, explaining, and filing any document or necessary information in support of a form or other document, including sworn financial statements and certificates of compliance;

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(f)    signing, filing, and completing service of documents;

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(g)    reviewing documents of another party or documents and forms prepared by a pension or retirement plan which allocate pension or retirement benefits pursuant to a decree of dissolution, and explaining them to the client;

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(h)    informing, counseling, assisting and advocating for a client in negotiations with another party or that party’s representative and in mediations;

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(i)    preparation of and completing filing and service of a written settlement agreement in conformity with the negotiated agreement;

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(j)    communicating with another party or the party’s representative regarding documents prepared for or filed in a case and matters reasonably related thereto;

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(k)    communicating with the client regarding the matter and related issues, including retaining experts and fully preparing the client for a testimonial hearing or deposition;

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(l)    explaining a court order that affects the client’s rights and obligations;

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(m)    standing or sitting at counsel table with the client during a court proceeding, communicating with the client during the proceeding, making statements, making offers of proof, examining any witness, and making arguments and objections in court, answering questions posed by the court, addressing the court, taking notes, and assisting the client in understanding the proceeding and relevant orders;

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(n)    providing clients with information about additional resources or requirements, such as parenting education classes, and filing certificates of completion with the court; and

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(o)    advising clients regarding the need for a lawyer to review complex issues that may arise in a matter, consistent with the LLP’s duty set forth in Colo. LLP RPC 1.1.

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(5)    [Reserved].

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(6)    Limits on the activities that can be performed or matters that can be undertaken by an LLP under this rule do not, by themselves, require the LLP to withdraw from the representation of a client if the LLP can provide authorized services to that client. Nothing in this rule precludes a client of an LLP from retaining a lawyer or acting pro se in the same matter in which the client has retained an LLP when an activity, task or issue is outside the LLP’s authorized scope of practice.

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Comment from Colorado Supreme Court:

Descriptions of an LLP’s authorized scope of practice withing this rule should be liberally construed to include all ordinary and reasonable actions within an authorized scope of practice, including procedural steps that are permitted by the Rules of Civil Procedure and are not expressly prohibited under this rule.