New York

The New York Commission to Reimagine the Future of NY Courts’ Working Group on Regulatory Innovation has issued its report. The three main recommendations are:

  1. The provision of certain “legal” services and advocacy by trained and certified social workers should be permitted;
  2. The Court Navigators program should be expanded both in scope and substance; and
  3. Alternate Business Structures (“ABS”) for law firms should not be permitted in New York at the present time, but current experiments under way in Arizona, Utah, and California should be followed carefully and, if they are successful, the creation of an ABS model or models in New York State with the use of a “sandbox” should be reconsidered.