Posted by HisHughness on 10/10/13 9:47am
Msg #487606

Query

I have received an assignment from a title company in the Northwest. The assignment came from a "limited practice officer."

What is that? Is it someone who has been practicing only a short time? Someone who is quite restricted in her outlook, and is thus a limited person? Someone who is just practicing to be an officer, and is limited to that? And what is she supposed to be a officer of?

Reply by Darlin_AL on 10/10/13 9:49am
Msg #487607

Northwest is no longer a territory--which state? :) n/m

Reply by Shoshana/AZ on 10/10/13 9:55am
Msg #487608

http://www.olypentitle.com/limited-practice-officers

Google is your friend.

Reply by Anita Edwards on 10/10/13 9:59am
Msg #487609

My best guess would be practice in the term of law office and limited means that they are not an attorney by title and officer meaning they may be on the board. I don't know.

Reply by Jack/AL on 10/10/13 10:02am
Msg #487612

Gee, I dunno, Hugh.

Lawyers seem to have legal practises, with which you are familiar. My medical doctor has been practising medicine for over 30 years. I wonder when he'll just provide the services and not have to practise, for he already seems good at it. He practises general medicine, but his patients are generally not generals. That said, I have not idea as to the meaning of a limited practise officer. Duh........

Reply by Darlin_AL on 10/10/13 10:04am
Msg #487613

paralegal is my guess-is there a prize? n/m

Reply by Laurie Manzanares on 10/10/13 10:27am
Msg #487616

Re:good one Darlin, lol n/m

Reply by TacomaBoy on 10/10/13 3:31pm
Msg #487657

LPO = "Limited Practice Officer"

It's all about the money!

An LPO (Limited Practice Officer) in Washington State is usually a title company employee, licensed and certified under Washington State law to prepare and submit certain mortgage closing documents for their clients (Hud-1, etc.) as well as close (disburse) the transaction.

Several years ago attorneys in Washington organized and argued that escrow employees of title companies were "practicing law" by allowing them to prepare and submit doc's to their customers at closing. Of course, the unauthorized practice of law is not in the the public's interest anywhere and those so practicing law can run into some serious legal problems. In reality, the attorney's were probably most interested in taking away all of the real estate business from the title companies for their own account.

Well, a compromise was reached wherein title company employees would be required to obtain several hours of training and education, then pass a rigorous test to ultimately obtain the LPO designation. The bar association agreed to allow LPO's the "limited practice law" through A.P.R 12 (Admissions to Practice Rule 12). LPO's are under attorney's supervision and are forbidden by Washington State law law to provide any legal advice or advocate for either side of the R/E transaction.

Look for the A.P.R 12 disclaimer in the customer's instructions to escrow in most loan packages generated in Washington State. It describes the above and gives the customer notice of their right to seek legal representation prior to the closing, including having their own attorney close the transaction.

My apologies to any of my R/E attorney clients I may have offended. Please jump into my rant! ;>)

Reply by HisHughness on 10/10/13 11:56pm
Msg #487722

Re: LPO = "Limited Practice Officer"

Thanks for an excellent explanation. And thanks to Cooper - aarono for taking the time to explain.

Every attorney worth his salt recognizes that 90 percent of the actual law practice in his office is done by either his secretary or his paralegal, or both, and recognizes their contribution with a special envelope at Xmas.