Abstract
The Washington model, in which limited unlicensed practice is explicitly authorized, regulated, and subjected to an ex post attorney's standard of care, is by far the cleanest approach to the problem. For jurisdictions that mediate between permitted and unpermitted provision of legal services by non-lawyers by finetuning their definition of "practice of law," one of two approaches may accomplish the desired ex post goal. First, courts may define "practice of law" expansively for ex post standard of care purposes while restricting it for ex ante regulatory purposes. Although this is effectively the equivalent of the Washington model, it may prove too cognitively dissonant and may therefore be unworkable. Alternatively, courts may hold that although particular activities are not "practice of law" for ex ante regulatory purposes, those who engage in those activities will be liable in tort to consumers injured by their having done so.
Recommended Citation
Buhai, Sande L.
(2007)
"Act Like a Lawyer, Be Judged Like a Lawyer: The Standard of Care for the Unlicensed Practice of Law,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2007:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2007/iss1/3