Category Archives: Legal Ethics

Setting Public Goals for Access Commissions: The Massachusetts Model

Posted on May 7, 2012 by richardzorza

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 | Comments Off on Setting Public Goals for Access Commissions: The Massachusetts Model

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

Posted on May 7, 2012 by richardzorza

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 | Comments Off on Coming Soon — Public Welfare Foundation Funded NCSC Access to Justice Center

Should Anyone Join a Large Firm Anymore?

Posted on May 5, 2012 by richardzorza

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 →

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How Others See Us in the US

Posted on March 22, 2012 by richardzorza

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 richardzorza

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 | Comments Off on A shift in Empahsis About Access Demonstrated by Retired Chief Justice Marshall of Massachusetts

General Study of Impact of Regulation Upon Occupations.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by richardzorza

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 | Comments Off on General Study of Impact of Regulation Upon Occupations.

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

Posted on July 31, 2011 by richardzorza

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 richardzorza

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

Richard Moorhead asks: “Hackgate, Where Were The Lawyers?”

Posted on July 11, 2011 by richardzorza

Richard Moorhead nails it again in his blog: US scandals (Watergate, Savings and Loan, Enron and latterly Lehman) have tended to prompt the question: where were the lawyers? Indeed, Watergate is widely credited with being the first crisis to prompt … Continue reading →

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When Is A Website Practicing Law? Provocative Post By Richard Granat

Posted on July 6, 2011 by richardzorza

Richard Granat has a very interesting and reflective post on the e-lawyering blog on the question of when a website is practicing law.  (No surprise, Richard is a pioneer who is always thinking ahead.) As the title “Is LegalZoom Just … Continue reading →

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Lack of Civil Gideon and Unauthorized Practice of Law Rules — Are They Consistent?

Posted on June 5, 2011 by richardzorza

I have just posted a blog post on the above subject as a pre-post to our upcoming Symposium on Turner v. Rogers on ConcurringOpinions. Here is the post, very slightly modified:

Posted in Access to Counsel, Access to Justice Generally, Judicial Ethics, Legal Ethics, Supreme Court | Tagged | 1 Comment

Sue Talia Comments on Montana’s New Unbundling Rules as National Model

Posted on March 21, 2011 by richardzorza

As many of you know, Sue Talia  is one of the country’s leading experts on unbundling, and a frequent speaker on the topic.  We are proud to share her analysis of the significance of the  new Montana unbundling rules. MONTANA’S … Continue reading →

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Implications for ATJ of IBM’s Watson’s Victory on Jeopardy

Posted on February 17, 2011 by richardzorza

Lots of coverage on IBM’s Watson’s victory on Jeopardy.  Does it mean we rethink the information/advice distinction? Much focus has been on the implications for medicine and for technical support.  (By the way, for techies interested in the configuration, here … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Mobile Technology, Science, Self-Help Services, Technology | Tagged , | 3 Comments

SC ATJ Commission Self-Help Center Strategy — Low Cost Pilot and Guidelines

Posted on February 4, 2011 by richardzorza

The SC Access to Justice Commission has announced the approval by the Supreme Court of its soon-to-open pilot self-help center. I’d particularly draw attention to the strategy of having the pilot be a project of the Commission.  This helps bring … Continue reading →

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Please Take a Good Look at Richard Moorhead’s UK LawyerWatch Blog

Posted on January 30, 2011 by richardzorza

For anyone interested in UK access to justice perspectives and research, I strongly recommend Richard Moorhead’s LawyerWatch. Richard is at the University of Cardiff, and one of the most highly respected researchers in UK in access to justice. Here are … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Ethics, Research and Evalation | Tagged | Comments Off on Please Take a Good Look at Richard Moorhead’s UK LawyerWatch Blog