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Contact: Kristin Weber [kweber@halt.org] or Tom Gordon at 202/887-8255
In a victory for legal consumers, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a
ruling today in the case King v. First Capital Financial Services, finding
that mortgage document preparation by a lender does not constitute the
unauthorized practice of law. HALT, the nation's oldest and largest legal
reform group, had filed an amicus curiae brief urging the court to follow a
nationwide trend of court decisions that have acknowledged that not every
legal need-in this case, simple document preparation-demands a lawyer.
"The Court has prevented a brazen attempt by the bar to increase its
monopoly power over legal services," said HALT Senior Counsel Tom Gordon.
"While the bar would love to be able to have a guaranteed fee for every
mortgage loan transacted in Illinois, the Court has recognized that the
basis for unauthorized practice restrictions is consumer protection, not
lawyer protection."
By upholding the Appeals Court's ruling, the Court refused to broaden
the definition of the practice of law and widen the lawyer monopoly over
legal services. The decision means that mortgage companies will not be
forced to hire lawyers to prepare their own lending documents, a cost that
would undoubtedly be passed on to consumers.
As HALT argued in its brief, restrictions on unauthorized practice of
law protect lawyers from economic competition at the expense of consumers.
By upholding the Appeals Court decision, the court rejected protectionist
arguments and embraced consumer choice.
Today's ruling followed decisions made by courts in New Jersey and
Kentucky and the legislature in Virginia that protect consumers from
monopolistic restrictions on who may perform transactions associated with
real estate. HALT has worked to abolish other unwarranted unauthorized
practice of law statutes across the nation. HALT has also urged state
courts and bar associations to adopt their own narrow model definition of
the practice of law, which says that unauthorized practice of law means
saying you are a lawyer when you are not.
Founded in 1978, HALT—An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest organization. HALT pursues an aggressive education and advocacy program that challenges the legal establishment to improve access, increase accountability and reduce costs in the civil justice system.
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