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Contact: Contact Kristin Weber at 202/887-8255, kweber@halt.org
Washington, DC—Today HALT filed written comments with the West Virginia Supreme Court asking the court to protect consumers, not lawyers, when considering the definition of the practice of law. Writing to the court in its rule-making capacity, HALT urged it to recognize that not every legal need requires hiring a lawyer.
"Just as you don't go to a neurosurgeon to treat a headache, you don't need to go to a lawyer to perform a real estate closing," said HALT Senior Counsel Tom Gordon. "As anyone who's been through a residential real estate closing knows, the person performing the closing is merely pointing the buyer to blanks to be signed. Guiding someone through this paperwork does not require three years of law school and a two-day exam on the law."
HALT encouraged the court to consider the danger of broadening the definition of the practice of law and widening the lawyer monopoly over legal services. HALT holds up the simple definition that the unauthorized practice of law means saying you are a lawyer when you are not.
In its letter to the court, HALT offered several compelling reasons to narrow the state's definition of the practice of law, thereby protecting a consumer's right to access a variety of legal services-including less expensive, nonlawyer alternatives. First, HALT said, an atmosphere consumer choice drives down prices and ensures service will be more convenient and competent. Second, consumers who use nonlawyer—often less expensive—professionals like real estate title agents often receive better service and have more adequate routes of recourse in the event of incompetent or fraudulent service. Finally, unauthorized practice prosecution is too often used by bar associations as a mechanism for stifling competition and pushing qualified service providers out of the marketplace.
By following HALT's recommendations, West Virginia's Supreme Court would follow similar decisions made by courts in New Jersey and Kentucky and the legislature in Virginia. HALT has worked to abolish other unwarranted unauthorized practice of law statutes across the nation.
HALT's efforts in West Virginia follow the organization's testimony before an American Bar Association Task Force on the Model Definition of the Practice of Law in February 2003. Opposition from HALT and other groups forced the Task Force to back off from its original, overly broad proposed definition that stood to proscribe consumer access to diverse legal service providers. This leaves the duty of defining the practice of law up to individual states.
Founded in 1978, HALT—An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform is a non-partisan, non-profit public interest organization. HALT pursues an aggressive education and advocacy program that challenges the legal establishment to improve access and accountability and reduce costs in the civil justice system.
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