Washington, DC -- HALT, the nation's largest and oldest legal reform organization, has challenged plans by the State Bar of Arizona to prevent consumers from using non-lawyers for services such as completing court-prepared forms and providing general information about the legal system.

"While claiming it is protecting consumers, the Arizona Bar is really trying to protect itself from competition," said HALT Senior Counsel Thomas M. Gordon. "One of the main reasons the average consumer cannot afford legal help is that archaic rules against the 'unauthorized practice of law' stifle competition and preserve a lawyers' monopoly on providing legal services."

The Bar's proposal takes the form of a petition to the Arizona Supreme Court to change Supreme Court rules relating to the unauthorized practice of law. While the Bar claims its proposed rule changes are necessary to prevent non-lawyers from masquerading as lawyers, the changes it proposes would go far beyond preventing such fraud. The proposed new rules would prohibit non-lawyers from completing fill-in-the-blank forms for consumers, stating legal opinions, or negotiating legal rights for another person. As HALT states in its comments submitted to the Arizona Supreme Court, under these rules "a person who has a limited grasp of English could not let her English-speaking daughter negotiate with her landlord on her behalf."

"The overly expansive definition of the practice of law proposed by the State Bar does more to protect the Bar's monopoly over legal services than it does to protect consumers," said Gordon. "HALT proposes a single sentence that would protect consumers against impostors posing as lawyers: 'The unauthorized practice of law is saying you are a lawyer when you are not.'" The full text of HALT's comments to the Arizona Supreme Court can be viewed at www.halt.org.

Founded in 1978, HALT-- An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform is a non-partisan, non-profit public interest organization. HALT pursues a bold education and advocacy program that challenges the legal establishment to improve access and reduce costs in the civil justice system.