please take me off your e-mail list. I do not have an e-mail capability
anymore. thank you
Edwin Montanez wrote:
> 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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VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
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