Unit 8 Assignment: Competence and Negligence

Unit 8 Assignment: Competence and Negligence

Paralegals have to deal with the possibility of doing unauthorized practice of law (UPL) in the work atmosphere and out of work. They have to learn to balance their work and life and meet somewhere in the middle. In this written assignment I am going to cover what unauthorized practice of law is and two different scenarios that a paralegal might come across with when not dealing with clients, but friends.

UPL is Unauthorized Practice of Law and can be a criminal defense. UPL includes giving legal advice, accepting cases or clients, setting fees, signing pleading, appearing representation capacity in a court of law, holding oneself out as an attorney, or doing anything only a license attorney may do. Courts prohibit UPL because of a perceived need to protect individuals and the public from the mistakes of the untrained and the schemes of the unscrupulous, which are not subject to the judicially imposed disciplinary standards of competence, responsibility, and accountability.

Mr. Smith's Situation:

In the situation with Mr. Smith; Polly the paralegal would be committing unauthorized practice of law by giving Mr. Smith, legal advice about if adultery was grounds for divorce in North Carolina since Polly knows about the law and giving legal advice since she is not license attorney to give advice.

Polly should not call back Mr. Smith and if she does call Mr. Smith back she should tell Mr. Smith that she cannot give him legal advice since she is a paralegal and it is illegal since she is not a license attorney. According to the NFPA Model Disciplinary Rules 1.8 a paralegal shall not engage in unauthorized practice of law (http://www.paralegals.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=133) and to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 5.5 Unauthorized Practice of Law; Multijurisdictional Practice of Law (http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/rule_5_5.html) but she can give him names of some attorneys that...