Legal Document Assistant - Future

Future

As the preparation of legal documents becomes more and more computerized, the function of non-attorney document preparers has become less dependent upon the preparer's individual skills, and more upon the quality of their software. By the same token, the continued increase of the availability of document software, legal aid websites, and the like, make it more and more likely that persons with some level of computer skills will be able to prepare and file legal documents without attorneys, and in fact, may not need even the limited assistance offered by LDAs, to prepare competent and quality legal documents. In fact, in the late 1990s, the Texas Bar Association, recognizing the threat that this trend represents to the pocketbooks of lawyers, was sued by Nolo Press, the country's leading publisher of self-help books and software, for alleging that Nolo was guilty of practicing law without a license. Although the Federal Circuit Court hearing the case initially ruled in favor of the State Bar, ultimately, they were unsuccessful, as the Texas Legislature passed a law which clearly established that selling books and software on legal subjects could not be considered practicing law. The preceding sentence exemplifies why the Texas Bar Association's concern with "quality legal documents" prepared by non-attorneys extends beyond the mere "threat that this trend represents of the pocketbooks of lawyers," since the above mentioned law - Tex. Gov't. Ann. § 81.101 provides:

At the very least, it appears that the statute exempts only such books and software which "clearly and conspicuously state that the products are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney." Thus, under certain facts and circumstances, it appears that such software and/or books could still constitute the unauthorized practice of law absent a disclaimer as required by the statute. For a discussion of the specific facts that led a federal court to conclude that the developer, publisher, and marketer of Quicken Family Lawyer had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Texas (prior to enactment of section C, above), the reader is referred to Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee v. Parsons, 1999 WL 47235 (N.D. Tex. 1999)

In New York, "quality" legal documents are available online through the state court system.