(a) Direct delivery of legal assistance to recipient clients. (1) Activities undertaken by the recipient to meet the requirements of this part must include the direct delivery of legal assistance to eligible clients by private attorneys through programs such as organized pro bono plans, reduced fee plans, judicare panels, private attorney contracts, or those modified pro bono plans which provide for the payment of nominal fees by eligible clients and/or organized referral systems; except that payment of attorney’s fees through “revolving litigation fund” systems, as described in § 1614.8, shall neither be used nor funded under this part nor funded with any LSC support.

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(2) In addition to the activities described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, direct delivery of legal assistance to eligible clients may include representation by a non-attorney in an administrative tribunal that permits non-attorneys to represent individuals before the tribunal.

(3) Systems designed to provide direct legal assistance to eligible clients of the recipient by private attorneys on either a pro bono or reduced fee basis, shall include at a minimum, the following components:

(i) Intake and case acceptance procedures consistent with the recipient’s established priorities in meeting the legal needs of eligible clients;

(ii) Case assignments which ensure the referral of cases according to the nature of the legal problems involved and the skills, expertise, and substantive experience of the participating attorney;

(iii) Case oversight and follow-up procedures to ensure the timely disposition of cases to achieve, if possible, the result desired by the client and the efficient and economical utilization of recipient resources; and

(iv) Access by private attorneys to LSC recipient resources that provide back-up on substantive and procedural issues of the law.

(b) Support and other activities. Activities undertaken by recipients to meet the requirements of this part may also include, but are not limited to:

(1) Support provided by private attorneys to the recipient or a subrecipient as part of its delivery of legal assistance or legal information to eligible clients on either a reduced fee or pro bono basis such as the provision of community legal education, training, technical assistance, research, advice and counsel; co-counseling arrangements; or the use of the private attorney’s facilities, libraries, computer-assisted legal research systems or other resources;

(2) Support provided by other professionals in their areas of professional expertise to the recipient as part of its delivery of legal information or legal assistance to eligible clients on either a reduced fee or pro bono basis such as the provision of intake support, research, training, technical assistance, or direct assistance to an eligible client of the recipient; and

(3) Support provided by the recipient in furtherance of activities undertaken pursuant to this section including the provision of training, technical assistance, research, advice and counsel or the use of recipient facilities, libraries, computer assisted legal research systems or other resources.

(4) Support provided to bar associations or courts establishing legal clinics. A recipient may allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with providing a bar association or court with technical assistance in planning and establishing a legal clinic at which private attorneys will provide legal information and/or legal assistance.

(5) PAI Clinics—(i) Legal information provided in PAI clinics. A recipient may allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with providing support to clinics, regardless of whether the clinic screens for eligibility, if the clinic provides only legal information.

(ii) Legal assistance provided in PAI clinics. A recipient may provide support to a PAI clinic that provides legal assistance if the PAI clinic screens for eligibility.

(A) A recipient may allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with its support of such clinics for legal assistance provided to individuals who are eligible to receive LSC-funded legal services.

(B) Where a recipient supports a clinic that provides legal assistance to individuals who are eligible for permissible non-LSC-funded services, the recipient may not allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with the legal assistance provided to such individuals. For example, a recipient may not allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with legal assistance provided through a clinic to an individual who exceeds the income and asset tests for LSC eligibility, but is otherwise eligible.

(C) For clinics providing legal information to the public and legal assistance to clients screened for eligibility, a recipient may allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with its support of both parts of the clinic. If the clinic does not screen for eligibility, the recipient may allocate to the PAI requirement costs associated with the legal information portion of the PAI clinic, but may not allocate to the PAI requirement costs associated with the legal assistance portion of the clinic.

(D) In order to allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with support of the legal assistance portion of a clinic, a recipient must maintain records sufficient to document that such clinic has an eligibility screening process and that each individual provided with legal assistance in the portion of the clinic supported by the recipient was properly screened for eligibility under the process.

(6) Screening and referral systems. (i) A recipient may participate in a referral system in which the recipient conducts intake screening and refers LSC-eligible applicants to programs that assign applicants to private attorneys on a pro bono or reduced fee basis.

(ii) In order to allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with participating in such referral systems, a recipient must be able to report the number of eligible persons referred by the recipient to each program and the number of eligible persons who were placed with a private attorney through the program receiving the referral.

(7) Law student activities. A recipient may allocate to its PAI requirement costs associated with law student work supporting the recipient’s provision of legal information or delivery of legal assistance to eligible clients. Compensation paid by the recipient to law students may not be allocated to the PAI requirement.

(c) Determination of PAI activities. The specific methods to be undertaken by a recipient to involve private attorneys, law students, law graduates, or other professionals in the provision of legal information and legal assistance to eligible clients will be determined by the recipient’s taking into account the following factors:

(1) The priorities established pursuant to part 1620 of this chapter;

(2) The effective and economic delivery of legal assistance and legal information to eligible clients;

(3) The linguistic and cultural barriers to effective advocacy;

(4) The actual or potential conflicts of interest between specific participating attorneys, law students, law graduates, or other professionals and individual eligible clients; and

(5) The substantive and practical expertise, skills, and willingness to undertake new or unique areas of the law of participating attorneys and other professionals.

(d) Unauthorized practice of law. This part is not intended to permit any activities that would conflict with the rules governing the unauthorized practice of law in the recipient’s jurisdiction.