ABA Journal:  ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III agrees the poor need more legal help, but says deregulating law practice is not the answer.

Robinson outlines the ABA’s views on legal aid for the poor in a letter to the editor of the New York Times. His letter responds to a Times op-ed last week that suggests the “justice gap” could be addressed by allowing nonlawyers “into the mix” who could handle easier matters such as uncontested divorces. A Wall Street Journal op-ed by two Brookings Institution fellows, also published last week, made a similar point.

Robinson disagrees. “A rush to open the practice of law to unschooled, unregulated nonlawyers is not the solution,” he writes. “This would cause grave harm to clients. Even matters that appear simple, such as uncontested divorces, involve myriad legal rights and responsibilities. If the case is not handled by a professional with appropriate legal training, a person can suffer serious long-term consequences affecting loved ones or financial security.”

Related posts:

  1. Department of Justice Prohibits Nonpartisan Elections
  2. Obama Ignores Express Language in Federal Law and Appoints Elizabeth Warren as Head of New U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  3. Can an Undocumented Immigrant Practice Law in California?
  4. Should The Practice Of Law Be Deregulated?
  5. Should The Legal Profession Be Deregulated?
  6. The Man Who Knew Too Little – President Obama’s Stunning Ignorance of Constitutional Law
  7. US Attorney General Tells 5th Circuit Court of Appeals the Department of Justice Disagrees with President Obama on Constitutional Law
  8. ABA Calls Obama’s Comments on Judicial Activism ‘Troubling’
  9. President Obama on President’s Authority to Take Unilateral Military Action
  10. Obama Threatens to Veto Laws Passed that Require Him to Follow the Law