lew@ihuxr.UUCP (08/22/83)
There was a Newsweek (I think) article about a woman who had been the secretary for a lawyer. She noticed that he was charging hundreds of dollars for divorces and wills, when all he was doing was handing the job over to her. She simply typed up a form and sent it in to the appropriate agency. Sooo, she decided to go into business herself. She files papers for people (exactly what she was doing for the lawyer) at a fraction (~ 1/10) of what lawyers charge. She is now being prosecuted for practicing law without a license. The ABA is after her with some kind of lawsuit with the rationale of protecting potential "victims" who might get into trouble by relying on her untrained help. Newsweek noted that the ABA offered "with unintended irony" the theory that many of these people need this protection since they wouldn't be able to afford a lawyer! Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew
dave@lsuc.UUCP (08/23/83)
Believe it or not, the ABA may have a point. I don't know the details
of this one, but what about the client who has a fact situation that's
slightly different, and the "standard form" doesn't work? Will the
secretary know enough to send him to a lawyer?
If in fact all the lawyer does is pass it on to a secretary
to prepare and file, then economics and the fact that U.S. lawyers can
advertise dictate that the lawyer's fee will go DOWN.
Sure, lots of work in law offices is done by secretaries,
paralegals, law clerks and students. But at the bottom (top?) of it
all is a lawyer who (a) checks for unusual situations, and (b) is there
and insured if anything goes wrong.
Dave Sherman
[not speaking on behalf of] The Law Society of Upper Canada
Toronto
--
{allegra,cornell,floyd,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver,watmath}!utcsrgv!lsuc!davemark@umcp-cs.UUCP (08/24/83)
The ABA MAY have a point, depending on what the secretary was doing.
If she was claiming to be a lawyer, ok, they have her. But if
she was claiming simply that this is the standard form one
uses for these things and that it is at your own risk, go ahead
if you want to but I'm not a lawyer (which I imagine is more
like the case), they should go away and leave her alone.
I agree that the ABA has everyone paranoid about practicing law
without a license. I once needed to file suit against someone
and my lawyer advised me how to do it myself (gee, that is actually
a positive thing, isn't it). At the courthouse there were
lots of forms to fill out, but noone would answer any questions about
them. If you tried to ask one of the clerks behind the counter,
they would give a frightened look, turn away or say "Shhhh", and
then point to little posted messages around the room explaining this
or that phrase, each with a disclaimer that one should consult
a lawyer for the real information. Stuff like this maintains
the lawyer mystique real well, and helps rake in the fees for
trivial work.
--
spoken: mark weiser
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!mark
CSNet: mark@umcp-cs
ARPA: mark.umcp-cs@UDel-Relaycjh@ihuxr.UUCP (08/24/83)
The only problem I have with the idea that "the lawyer is there to check for unusual situations and is insured if anything goes wrong" is that it doesn't work that way in reality. A majority of the lawyers I've hired and known are only in it for the MONEY. Lawyers want their money up front and usually only ones working on law suits will work on fees to be paid later. Some lawyers have been known to drop a case when the client runs out of money. A friend of mine had this happen. It's not a noble profession, but motivated by greed, like everything else, C. J. Holzwarth ihuxr!cjh