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Posted by  HisHughness on 2/13/05 12:07pm
Korey asks:
***If I would have gone to the local library and checked out a book for her to read on Bankruptcy, would that be the Unauthorized practice of law?????***
I will assume that your question is asked in a sincere attempt for enlightenment, rather than to be argumentative.
If you had checked out a book on Chapter 13 and handed it to her, you would not have been practicing law. If, on the other hand, you had checked out a book on Chapter 13, gone through it and extracted the information that you thought would give her what she needed to file and prosecute a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, handed it to her and asked for a $350 check, that would be practicing law. It sounds like you came much closer to doing the latter than you did the former.
A lawyer can get into trouble, including criminal conduct, in more ways than any other profession. That risk is multiplied many times over by a lay person intruding into the practice of law.
I can speak with some objectivity on this, Korey. I'm not protecting my professional turf, because I haven't practiced law for more than 20 years, I'm retired from it now, and even before I retired I spent most of my professional life as a journalist, not a lawyer. Furthermore, I now earn my living through a profession that is affiliated with the law but that does not involve the practice of law. It sounds like you crossed the line. |
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