THIS POST HAS ALREADY BEEN MOVED – STOP HERE UPL Under Scrunity: If you are a Virtual Paralegal, this is a must-read!

It was an ordinary day but a chance happening has got the Wisconsin State Bar in an uproar. On January 13, 2010, when retired Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice John Wilcox sat down for dinner in a local restaurant in central Wisconsin, he was surprised by freelance paralegal’s advertisement on his placemat.

“Paralegal services – estate planning, real estate, family, and much more.”

Intrigued, Justice Wilcox went to the business and saw a sign outside that read: “Family law, estate planning, pro se divorce, divorce/paternity, child support, child visitation, wills, power of attorney, deeds, transfer returns, and others.”

Subsequent investigation revealed a website for this business stating, “If you have a legal issue, cannot afford expensive attorney fees, do not like to hassle with all of the legal paperwork and want to have someone to assist you through the court system, then do not hesitate to call me.” [emphasis added]

While paralegals are an indispensable part of Wisconsin’s justice system and perform essential services, the way this business seems to be structured possibly creates yet another example of the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) that members of the State Bar of Wisconsin have identified in recent months.

Retired Justice Wilcox led the call to action and the State Bar of Wisconsin’s UPL Policy Committee took over.

If you are a Virtual Paralegal located anywhere, you must read this story and related articles on the Wisconsin Bar Association’s website, http://www.wisbar.org/

No related posts.

Tags: , , , ,


This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Unauthorized practice of Law (UPL). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.