Can posters offering pro se counsel on this site?

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ibis

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Hi,

I just saw a post in whihc a registered user offered to be pro se cousel for another poster and posted an email address to be contacted at. Is that acceptable on these forums?

Ibis
 
it should not be. Under the law of most states, you cannot counsel or represent anyone unless you are admitted to the bar. Usually advising someone how to act pro se would be considered unauthorized practice of law unless that person would be licensed to practice law. In some states there nowadays is a very limited permission to certain paralegals to assist pro se litigants, but even those people often must be registered or even licensed and the advice they are allowed to give is very limited.

Therefore I would be very careful. It is difficult enough to go pro se, so people don't need "expert" advice from people whose legal education might consist of watching Judge Judy. If going pro-se: Either you know what you are doing or you consult an attorney. For me anything in between would be too risky.

People really should think twice before relying on any advice not given by a licensed attorney in a client-attorney relationship. Non-lawyers usually neither have malpractice insurance, nor do the ethical rules of attorney-client relationships apply to them, there is no confidentiality rule to protect your interests etc etc.

That even goes for advice on this forum. Nothing here should be construed as competent advice, no matter how competent it sounds and how sincere the posters are. In the end, you bear the risk. Therefore always double check and if in doubt, trust the professionals you consulted, not any internet postings or self appointed legal experts.
 
NYClex said:
it should not be. Under the law of most states, you cannot counsel or represent anyone unless you are admitted to the bar. Usually advising someone how to act pro se would be considered unauthorized practice of law unless that person would be licensed to practice law. In some states there nowadays is a very limited permission to certain paralegals to assist pro se litigants, but even those people often must be registered or even licensed and the advice they are allowed to give is very limited.

Therefore I would be very careful. It is difficult enough to go pro se, so people don't need "expert" advice from people whose legal education might consist of watching Judge Judy. If going pro-se: Either you know what you are doing or you consult an attorney. For me anything in between would be too risky.

People really should think twice before relying on any advice not given by a licensed attorney in a client-attorney relationship. Non-lawyers usually neither have malpractice insurance, nor do the ethical rules of attorney-client relationships apply to them, there is no confidentiality rule to protect your interests etc etc.

That even goes for advice on this forum. Nothing here should be construed as competent advice, no matter how competent it sounds and how sincere the posters are. In the end, you bear the risk. Therefore always double check and if in doubt, trust the professionals you consulted, not any internet postings or self appointed legal experts.

This is a great response -- thank you NYCLEX. Non-attorneys offering to be "pro-se" counsel is not advisable and one might even be better of with such help. That said, I have seen some advocates that are remarkably well versed in the law, better than some lawyers. They may be able to provide assistance but both the litigant and the advocate must be extremely careful not to broach the line of the illegal or unauthorized practice of law by a layperson.

You will be able to read more about this on a FAQ we'll have up this weekend -- one of many changes we are implementing today. We have spent several weeks investigating various systems to upgrade the capabilities here and, as you can see, that is the reason everything but the forums is not available today.
 
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