Unauthorized Practice Of Law

Subscribe to Unauthorized Practice Of Law via RSS

There are probably some of you who lie awake at night wondering whether Leagalzoom’s offering of do it yourself lawyering products will be found to be the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) in North Carolina.

For those few of you, that uncertainty will continue.  At the end of last week, Judge Gale issued an opinion in Bergenstock v. Legalzoom.com, Inc., 2015 NCBC 49, dismissing a putative class action by Plaintiffs seeking to represent all North Carolina residents who purchased Legalzoom products or services.  The claims were for UPL, unjust…

Continue Reading NC Business Court Gives Full Faith And Credit To LegalZoom’s California Class Action Settlement

Sometimes you have a hard time telling who won and who lost a motion ruling.  That’s true of Judge Gale’s ruling on Monday in Legalzoom, Inc. v. The North Carolina State Bar, 2012 NCBC 47.

You are all undoubtedly familiar with Legalzoom, an on-line purveyor of do it yourself legal documents. This isn’t the first time that I’ve written about Legalzoom. The NC State Bar has been making noise for several years that the vending of Legalzoom’s documents is the unauthorized practice of law, and therefore illegal. 

This irked…

Continue Reading Legalzoom Strikes Out In Declaratory Judgment Action Against NC State Bar

Burgess v. Vitola, 2008 NCBC 7 (N.C. Super. Ct. March 26, 2006)(Diaz)

Bueche v. Noel, March 25, 2008 (Diaz)(unpublished)

The Business Court decided two cases this week involving what it found to be the unauthorized practice of law.  In the first, Bueche v. Noel, the Court held that a pro se defendant could not file an Answer on behalf of a corporation, because "a corporation must be represented by counsel and cannot appear pro se."  The Court struck the Answer filed by the defendant.

In the second case, Burgess v. Vitola, the issue was whether an out-of-state attorney who had apparently ghost written an Answer for a defendant had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

The defendant involved was Dr. Entezam, a California dentist sued by the plaintiff for allegedly trespassing on his computer through an unwanted advertisement.  (Whether those advertisements subjected the defendants to jurisdiction in North Carolina was the subject of an earlier post).  Dr. Entezam filed an Answer under her own pro se signature which had clearly been drafted by a lawyer.   Continue Reading There Won’t Be Any Unauthorized Practice Of Law In The Business Court