Low- to No-Cost Legal Help for All D.C. Residents

The D.C. Courts are now asking for your feedback on proposed new programs that would provide people with low- to no-cost legal help. This report – released on July 31, 2025 – details several possible initiatives that could address the significant gap in legal help for lower- to moderate-income D.C. residents.

“The vast majority of people are unrepresented, notwithstanding all that that D.C. Courts has already tried to do for access to justice,” says Judge Roy McLeese, Associate Judge for the D.C. Court of Appeals and co-chair of the Civil Legal Regulatory Reform Task Force that drafted the report.

The recommendations focus on allowing non-lawyers who receive specialized training to provide legal help to people involved in civil matters, says Judge Darlene Soltys, Associate Judge for the D.C. Superior Court and member of the Task Force.

“Whether it’s in landlord and tenant, small claims, probate, divorce, custody, child support,” says Soltys. “That entire arena where there is no constitutional right to a free attorney.”

Formed in 2023, the Task Force is made up of members of the judicial and legal community tasked with investigating access to justice issues in the District of Columbia.

“It’s critical—to the extent we can—to try to get people who have these fundamental legal challenges whatever assistance we can from people who are properly supervised and trained,” says Judge McLeese.

Comments on the report must be submitted by October 31, 2025. Comments may be submitted electronically to clrrtaskforce@dccsystem.gov. Comments also may be submitted in writing addressed to the Executive Office of the D.C. Courts, ATTN: CLRRTF, 500 Indiana Ave, N.W., Suite 6680, Washington, D.C. 20001. All comments submitted pursuant to this notice will be available to the public. Additional information may be found at the Civil Legal Regulatory Form Task Force web page at https://www.dccourts.gov/about/civil-legal-regulatory-task-force.