I thought that some of you lawyers might be interested in this article from
the the New York Times.
Edwin
February 7, 1999
Possible Legal Software Ban Raises Free Speech Issue
By BARBARA WHITAKER
H OUSTON -- It may look like a computer disk, but in the eyes of a
federal judge in Texas it behaves too much like a lawyer.
In a ruling last month thought to be the first of its type in the
country, Judge Barefoot Sanders of U.S. District Court in Dallas
found that [5]Parsons Technology Inc., which publishes Quicken
Family Lawyer and Quicken Family Lawyer '99, goes too far in the
assistance it provides consumers, resulting in an unauthorized
practice of law in the state.
The state's Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, which sued
Parsons, says it will seek to ban the sale of the software in
Texas, raising First Amendment concerns. In addition, the case is
highlighting arguments about whether the committee is protecting
the public from shoddy legal practices or further alienating
consumers already priced out of the market for lawyers.
The Quicken software provides more than 100 different legal forms,
instructions on how to fill them out and assistance in tailoring
the documents to the user's situation.
Parsons, based in Berkeley, Calif., and a unit of Broderbund
Software, argued that it had not engaged in the unauthorized
practice of law because there had to be some form of contact
between publisher and consumer for that to happen. Parsons also
said that interfering with the sale of its software would be a
violation of the First Amendment right of free speech.
But Sanders found that "Parsons, through Q.F.L., has gone beyond
publishing a sample form book with instructions, and has ventured
into the unauthorized practice of law." He also found that although
there was some restriction on free speech, it was in keeping with
the state's interest in protecting "the uninformed and unwary from
overly simplistic legal advice."
Mark Ticer, a lawyer for the committee, said he would move to have
the company banned from selling Quicken legal software in the
state.
Darrell Jordan, who represented Parsons, said he would offer more
information and ask the judge to reconsider his position once the
injunction was requested. If that failed, he said, he would seek to
delay sales limits during appeals.
Software publishers said Texas was alone in its aggressive scrutiny
of legal self-help material. But the case is being watched closely.
Some software dealers say they steer clear of the state.
The case has also focused attention on whether the Unauthorized
Practice of Law Committee is serving the people's interests.The
panel, responsible for enforcing the practice-of-law statute, is
made up of six lawyers and three nonlawyers, appointed by the
Supreme Court of Texas.
"Most of the people who buy this program cannot afford to go to a
lawyer," said Jane Winn, an associate professor specializing in the
law of electronic commerce at Southern Methodist University in
Dallas. "If you take this program away from the people who are
using it today, what access do they have to information about their
rights?"
Walt Borges, director of Court Watch, a project in Austin that
monitors the courts, criticized the committee for promoting a
"monopoly of law" and for operating in secret. "Before anybody bans
a self-help product they need to be darn sure that this will harm
the public," he said.
The committee's secretive operations are already being challenged
in the Texas Supreme Court by Nolo Press, which publishes a number
of self-help legal manuals.
Ticer defended the committee's right to operate with
confidentiality, explaining that the members do their own
investigations and could be hampered if their identities were
known.
He also countered accusations that the committee was simply trying
to protect lawyers' interests in the state. "We don't have an
agenda," Ticer said. "We just carry out the statute."
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