Public Access Legal Support (PALS) is a highly specific category of legal service providers in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

that are distinct from

solicitors A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

barristers A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and

paralegals A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals ...

, and that operate only within the framework of the

Public Access Scheme The Public Access Scheme (a.k.a. "Direct Access") allows members of the public in England and Wales to instruct a barrister directly. In the past, it was necessary for clients to use a solicitor or other third party in order to instruct a barrist ...

(otherwise known as 'Direct Access'). The Public Access Scheme (or 'Direct Access') enables consumers of legal services to instruct a barrister directly. The main advantage of the Scheme for consumers is the opportunity to save legal costs by avoiding the incurrence of solicitor's professional fees. However, removing solicitors from running a legal case often requires that clients themselves perform a considerable amount of document management, filing, and other related activities in the context of conducting litigation. Moreover, the current Public Access rules provide that barristers are not allowed to take on public access clients unless doing so is in both the client's best interests and in the interests of justice. Therefore, in complicated cases barristers must recommend to clients that they obtain external support from a solicitor or a PALS provider. Since the expense of employing a solicitor in the context of the Public Access Scheme (or 'Direct Access') defeats the 'cost-saving' purpose of the Scheme, consumers can turn to a PALS provider, which offers a range of support facilities at a significantly lower cost in comparison to the professional services of a solicitor, thereby preserving the purpose of the Public Access Scheme. The acronym PALS was first coined by Dr Yuri Rapoport B.Sc. SJD, head of the Kohen Rapoport Group, which launched UK's first PALS platform, known as PX Direct Access as part of PX Chambers Services. Providers of PALS achieve their lower cost position (in comparison to solicitors professional fees) owing to the fact that they do not offer any legal advice and do not have the overhead cost of regulatory compliance nor high-level professional indemnity insurance.

References

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