April 27, 2023
This report summarizes activities and actualized risk assessment of entities approved by the Utah Supreme Court to implement legal services within the Utah Sandbox and monitored by the Office of Legal Services Innovation. This report covers the period of October 2020 through the close of March 2023.
| Total Applications Received | 105 |
| Applicants Recommended to Court for Authorization | 63 |
| Applicants Denied Recommendation from Innovation Office | 2 |
| Applicants Denied Authorization by Court | 0 |
| Applicants Tabled (Policy Considerations) | 10 |
| Inactive / Withdrawn Applicants Before Recommendation | 13 |
| Currently Under Office Review | 10 |
| Recommended to Court for Authorization Pending Decision | 7 |
| Authorized Entities | 55 |
| Entities Withdrawn After Authorization | 5 |
| Entities Suspended or Terminated | 1 |
| Entities Currently Offering Services | 49 |
| Entities Reporting Data in March | 15 |
| Licensed Entities | 16 |
| Entities Recommended to Exit the Sandbox | 0 |
| Key Risks and Trends | No complaints |
Highlights and Updates
March was a heavy reporting period because both monthly and quarterly reports were scheduled. Fifteen approved entities reported data. Six of those are ABSs or Intermediary Platforms which are classified as low innovation. Nine of the reporting entities are classified as moderate innovation because they combine an ABS approach with alternative legal providers.
The March data show another 2,500 instances of legal services provided and bring the total for the life of the sandbox to 47,240. Since some consumers have received more than one service, the total number of consumers served is lower; but the March data show an additional 1000 clients to have been served by the authorized providers. As the charts displayed below reflect, the growth in services being provided and clients being served continues to be very robust.
As with last month, there were no new complaints of any kind reported during March. All authorized entities remain in the Green status under the Office’s enforcement policy.
One of the more active providers during this reporting period is Law On Call. Law On Call, which is owned by non-lawyers, uses a subscription-based model to provide access to lawyers for basic legal questions for $9 per month. Law On Call reported almost 1200 instances of legal service for the March reporting period, of which just over 1000 involved answering legal questions for the client subscribers. According to Law On Call, probably greater than 95% of their clients are small businesses and a high percentage of those are start-ups that need legal advice about how to get their business underway. In addition to providing legal assistance over the phone, Law On Cal helps their clients with document preparation/review and trademark application filing, reviewing/drafting non-disclosure/non-compete type documents, service contracts, independent contractor agreements, and other related business documents. These additional services are done on an hourly rate basis like a traditional law firm; however, because of the subscription model Law On Call is able to provide hourly rates services at rates well below a traditional law firm. This innovative pricing approach allows Law On Call to contribute to closing the access to justice gap by providing accessible legal advice to small businesses for an affordable monthly fee.
The Office currently has ten applications under review and there are another seven applications pending before the Court. During May and June, the Office will be focused on completing the processing of these applications so, if the Court approves, the Office will be able to reopen the application process on or before July 1. The other main focus for the Office during May and June is to implement the annual licensing process now approved by the Court.
Transition of the Office operations to the Utah State Bar has begun. The Bar leadership and staff have been working closely with the Office and the LSI committee to make the transition as smooth as possible. Nuts and bolts like email, file storage and website management have already been addressed.