By Deirdre Glascoe
Staff Writer for The National Association of Pro Se Litigants, Inc. (www.napsl.org)
Efrem Martin was trained as a paralegal by one of the finest educators in the world, The United States Marines! After serving his country with distinction, and with 25 years experience as a paralegal under his belt, Mr. Martin is now in the cross-hairs of the Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel. The Counsel, funded by attorneys, is asserting that Mr. Martin can't practice his trade on U.S. soil. This is because of a legal monopoly that exists in the U.S., a system of oppression that can only be maintained by the public’s ignorance of the law. Mr. Martin is a financial threat to that system of oppression, so the fat cats have their claws out.
As a basis to shut down his business, and impose other penalties including possibly criminal, the Attorney Regulation Counsel is evaluating Mr. Martin by a State law known as the unauthorized practice of law (UPL). UPL is a deficient and discriminatory law that fails to clearly delineate those tasks which attorneys may perform and those task that paralegals, legal secretaries and legal word processors may perform in a solo practice. But more troubling, particularly to members of the National Association of Pro Se Litigants, Inc., is that the Attorney Regulation Counsel, The Colorado Bar Association and paralegal associations like Rocky Mountain Paralegal Association and Colorado Freelance Paralegal Network (CPFN) take the position that Citizens in Colorado, representing themselves are not entitled to purchase legal information and other ancillary services directly from a paralegal. This according to the Colorado Bar Association is a privilege that only licensed attorneys may receive.
According to the CPFN website, “For those not familiar with the legal world, paralegals - even freelancers - are not permitted to provide their skills directly to the public. They are allowed to do so only under the supervision of a licensed attorney.” Well, for anyone familiar with the laws of slavery, the practice of depriving slaves of the right to read and write, so that they may remain ignorant and oppressed sounds chillingly similar.
UPL statues purport to protect the public interest; but since many attorneys wreak their incompetence and lack of ethics upon the public everyday, yet never face sanctions, critics have come to believe that unauthorized practice of law statutes are just guises put in place to help Lawyers maintain their monopoly on the public’s access to justice.
Critics say that our legal system is not the honest upright system it purports to be, but instead is premised on the concept of pay-to-play and quid-pro-quo. Clients who can grease the palms of attorneys and judges get justice; everyone else is left by the wayside.
The critics’ positions are substantiated by a variety of legal community embarrassments; most recently the indictment of Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. Both of these “Honorable” judges were indicted for crimes that were previously described by the media as selling kids for cash.
Independent Paralegal Services, like Mr. Martin’s help that portion of the public left on the wayside (the majority of the people); and services like his are critical to our society if we are to live up to our constitutional creed of Liberty and Justice, for all. To date, that creed has been molested by the legal community at large.
Not only do we need Mr. Martin and solo paralegals like him; but the competition and much needed service that he injects into the marketplace is as American as apple pie – its called capitalism. Capitalism and its cousin Competition have always been good for America.
You can help Mr. Martin by writing a letter asking that actions against Mr. Martin be dismissed. Address your letter to:
John S. Gleason
Regulation Counsel
Colorado Supreme Court
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
1560 Broadway, Suite 1800
Denver, Colorado 80202
Telephone: (303) 866-6400 or 1-877-888-1370
I'd much rather see the Office of Attorney Regulation, regulate skyrocketing attorney fees, rather than harass honest hard working citizens like Mr. Martin.
Ms. Glascoe may be reached at info@thejusticegame.net
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I just feel for the poor lawyer who has to volunteer their services to help the pro se litigant in my state. Why can't the state pay a paralegal to assist in these matters?
ReplyDeleteThere are several statutes that allow legal representation by nonlawyers, congress can make a law that says paralegals can assist here too. Since paralegals have "specialized training" like a realtor does. Well, paralegals have more training than a realtor.
But it is insane for a lawyer to volunteer his/her services when they have a debt ratio that is insanely high!!! And who knows if they can even pay it back.
Here are the costs incurred to be a lawyer:
Law school costs $100,000 per year!
Litigation costs X amount of dollars per year!
Most lawyers live off of Bank Loans so they start their law practice's with huge amounts of debt excluding school loan.
It takes at least 5 years to learn how to practice law after a law student graduates so if lawyer going solo, is NOT profitable in the first 2 or 3 years, he will be out of biz and BANKRUPT!!!
A paralegal ONLY spends $5000 for his/her education and is in a much better position to assist the general public with the basic legal procedures.
Society benefits by having paralegals provide some legal support services.
Society incurs costs by having lawyers do ALL the work and monopolizing the legal industry.
I find this news about Martin paralegal service disturbing but enlightening.
ReplyDeleteI have been following Mr. Martin’s blog [http://martinparalegalservices.blogspot.com/] for quite some time now. I find him to be more competent than many law students coming out of law school today. Our legal community should be ashamed of itself.
First, while a paralegal may not provide advice, represent in a court of law, negotiate a settlement, and set legal fees for the above mentioned items, a paralegal can provide administrative support for an attorney. That being said, a pro se litigant acting as an attorney for him/herself should be allowed to pay for a person to provide administrative support, too. In this way, a paralegal, too, may assist the public at large.
There are clear definitions, and I agree a lawyer should be licensed, but the cost for an attorney is far too great for the average person to afford and the lines between what a paralegal and an attorney do are often blurred. Society deserves other economical means for legal support. Therefore, if Mr. Martin desires to provide administrative support to pro se litigants he should be allowed to give and charge a reasonable fee for this service.
According to the Colorado Supreme Court, the main objective to regulating the practice of law is to prevent harm to the public at large, well, there are many attorneys out there that are as incompetent as some nonlawyers. That being said, law school is not doing enough to educate lawyers on the “practice of law”. Some of the worst lawyers are out representing clients and doing an injustice to them.
If a paralegal and a lawyer are almost one in the same with a couple exceptions, it seems logical to allow a paralegal to at least provide certain services to the public at large, services that will not hurt the public and are part of the drudge work of practicing law.
Think of paralegals like bookkeepers. A bookkeeper can provide accounting services to the public at-large and they don’t need to be licensed. A bookkeeper charges a reasonable fee such as 70% less than if one were to hire an accountant. At the same time, a paralegal should be able to provide legal services that are basic for the public at-large and charge 70% less than an attorney. Paralegals have specialized legal training.
What is a Paralegal?
ReplyDeleteIn a very real sense, a lawyer and a paralegal stand between the lay(wo)men and the legislator.
In a way, a paralegals are plainly professional--individuals educated in law. We are not, however trained at colleges of law in universities. Paralegals come out of ABA accredited colleges, private or public. If we learn anything at all, we learn American law, American pleadings, American legal experience. Our legal training is primarily practical, not jurisprudential. This peculiar bent in American legal system helps American law survive. Paralegals are a cohesive group sharply set off from the public.
We are trained to provide administrative support to the lawyer. Our training includes, but is not limited to drafting documents, pleadings, providing customer service, legal reasoning and analysis.
Because of this training, paralegals should be allowed to provide administrative support to society at large. We should be given the same prestige as lawyers.