Unauthorized Practice of Law and the Power of State Courts: Difficult Problems and Their Resolution

Abstract

The effectiveness of the legal order in every state is heavily dependent on the state's unauthorized practice laws. These laws impose restrictions on who may practice law and, in important respects, impose controls on the availability of legal services to those in need of such services and on the quality of the services offered. This is predominantly a field of state law. Federal unauthorized practice laws exist but affect only limited segments of the overall legal services market. Unauthorized practice laws are highly controversial, and many powerful interest groups consider these laws unjustified monopoly protection of lawyers. Pressures exist to ease substantially existing restrictions on unauthorized law practice, and these pressures can be expected to increase in the future. However, powerful forces within the bar are opposed to easing the restrictions and favor stricter enforcement of existing legal restraints on unauthorized law practice.