Category Archives: Legal Ethics

Memories of a Mentor, and Honoring a Prosecutor

Posted on March 18, 2013 by

On the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainright, I keep thinking about one of my mentors, Brownlow (Browny) Speer, who died a few weeks ago. Browny was Chief Appellate Attorney of first the Massachusetts Defenders Committee, and then its successor, … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Criminal Law, Legal Ethics, Public Defender, Vocation | Leave a comment

California Bar Explores Joining Movement for Non-Lawyer Practice

Posted on February 5, 2013 by

Another straw in a gathering wind. This article in the California Bar Journal reports on the Bar’s Board’s exploring the possibility of limited practice professionals: The State Bar Board of Trustees has expressed interest in examining a limited-practice licensing program … Continue reading →

Posted in Attorney-Client, Legal Ethics, Systematic Change | 4 Comments

Non-Lawyer Practice Idea Featured on CNN Website

Posted on November 23, 2012 by

Professor Gillian Hadfield, who recently testified at one of the New York Access Hearings about non-lawer practice, has an important opinion piece on the CNN Website.  She proves the total inadequacy of current access approaches, concluding that we simply have … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Non-Lawyer Practice, Systematic Change | 1 Comment

Non-Lawyer Practice — Moving the New York Discussion Forward

Posted on October 9, 2012 by

I blogged recently about testimony at the New York Access to Justice hearings about the potential of non-lawyer practice. I am now able to post the actual testimony that was briefly referenced in the Reuters story. Professor Gillian Hadfield of … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Legal Ethics, Pro Bono, Self-Help Services | 5 Comments

Advocacy at New York Hearing for Non-Lawyer Access Innovations

Posted on October 8, 2012 by

This may be a straw in the wind. Reuters, in their report of the second of this year’s New York State hearings on Access to Justice included the following: But money alone will not solve the problem, according to testimony … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Self-Help Services | 5 Comments

Important Step Forward with Washington State Legal Technician Rule

Posted on June 19, 2012 by

Lots of us have been watching this long-standing but very important saga. The Washington State Supreme Court has now by Order approved a Rule generally permitting non-lawyer legal technicians.  The Order does not itself authorize specific areas of legal technician … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Simplification, Systematic Change | 9 Comments

Will Hornsby Reports on Year’s Key Events

Posted on June 4, 2012 by

Each year, Will Hornsby, as staffer for the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, puts out a summary of key events.  It is all worth a read, but particularly useful is this summary of rule and ethics … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Law, Legal Ethics, Unbundling | Tagged | 3 Comments

Setting Public Goals for Access Commissions: The Massachusetts Model

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Kudos to the Massachusetts ATJ Commission for publicly setting itself objectives that are both concrete and ambitious — and for assigning groups and individuals to be responsible for moving them forward.  I am particularly impressed that goals for working with … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Boards, Funding, Judicial Ethics, Legal Aid, Legal Ethics, Self-Help Services, Technology, Transparency | Leave a comment

Coming Soon — Public Welfare Foundation Funded NCSC Access to Justice Center

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Here’s a heads up. Very soon we will be seeing the launch of the Access to Justice Center of the National Center for State Courts, funded by the Public Welfare Foundation. The Center, for which I will be a consultant, … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Legal Ethics, Self-Help Services | Leave a comment

Should Anyone Join a Large Firm Anymore?

Posted on May 5, 2012 by

The New York Times has a very informative and insightful article on the apparently impending collapse of Dewey and LeBoeuf. It’s all summed up in this quote on the change in the big firm legal world: “There’s a dawning recognition … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Pro Bono, Systematic Change | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How Others See Us in the US

Posted on March 22, 2012 by

Roger Smith, of the UK organization Justice, has a guest blog on Richard Moorhead’s Lawyer Blog, on “The internet and the provision of legal advice.“ It takes a somewhat pessimistic view of what has been achieved. Here are his observations … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Assembly, Legal Ethics | Tagged | 1 Comment

A shift in Empahsis About Access Demonstrated by Retired Chief Justice Marshall of Massachusetts

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

The retired Massachusetts Chief, in a Boston Globe op-ed, urging contributions to legal aid programs, shows an interesting shift in emphasis in terms of how we think about the access system.  It’s caught in these two paras: While judges and … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Counsel, Funding, Legal Aid, Legal Ethics, Self-Help Services, Systematic Change | Leave a comment

General Study of Impact of Regulation Upon Occupations.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

Richard Moorhead, perceptive as usual, has noticed a recent study conducted in the UK of the impact of regulations of occupations, done for the UK Commission on Employment and Skills, and titled A review of occupational regulation and its impact.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Middle Income | Tagged | Leave a comment

Unauthorized Practice of Law Issues and the “Not Malpractice” Test

Posted on July 31, 2011 by

The Forbes blog has an interesting post collecting a number of recent developments in UPL.  It includes a Missouri lawyers’ class action against Legal Zoom, and cases from Kentucky and Ohio.  The post takes a generally anti-regulatory tone, with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Assembly, Legal Ethics | Tagged | 4 Comments

Legal Services at the Mall — the UK Model

Posted on July 25, 2011 by

As you probably know in a general way, the UK is deregulating certain aspects of the legal profession. But you may not know how fast things are changing.  Here is one big consequence reported on the Legal Futures Blog.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Middle Income, Systematic Change | Tagged | 4 Comments