What is a Legal Document Assistant in California?
A California Legal Document Assistant (LDA) is a non-attorney who is registered and bonded in the county where they work, authorized under Business & Professions Code §6400 et seq. to prepare legal documents for consumers who are representing themselves. An LDA works at the client's specific direction — they don't give legal advice, choose strategy, or represent the client in court.
What an LDA can do
Under §6400, an LDA can prepare, organize, and file legal documents; type forms the client fills in; and provide general published legal information. In an insurance bad faith context, this means building the evidence file, organizing correspondence, drafting client-directed demand letter drafts for the client's attorney to review, and preparing exhibit binders.
What an LDA cannot do
An LDA cannot select forms for a client's specific situation, advise on strategy, negotiate on the client's behalf, or represent the client in any proceeding. Those are the practice of law and require a licensed California attorney. When strategy questions come up, we refer to the client's attorney.
Need the evidence organized?
We build the bad faith evidence file for California policyholders: correspondence log, line-item estimate comparison, §790.03 citation map, and an exhibit-ready binder. $95/hour, client-directed.
Open an evidence fileRelated questions
Educational information only. Legal Document Assistants provide evidence services under California Business & Professions Code §6400 et seq.; we do not provide legal advice.