Should lawyers have monopoly over legal services?
NOTE: Please remember that "practice of law" is defined differently in
different jurisdictions. In the Philippines, it has been defined rather loosely
by the Supreme Court. Please check the case of Cayetano v. Monsod cited
below.Is there a good reason to allow non-lawyers to provide legal services?
Lawyers’ education and training is superior. Admission standards are high. We are bound by codes of conduct and must be insured. Lawyers who breach professional duties may be disciplined. Why should anyone with lesser qualifications be inflicted on the public?
The short answer is that lawyers do not and cannot fill the public’s need for
legal services. According to the 2009 Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project,
lawyers provide advice and representation for only 11.7 per cent of what the
study called "justiciable events:" issues relating to consumers, employment,
debt, social assistance, housing, disability pension, discrimination, family
law, and hospital treatment issues, among many others.
READ MORE AT: Should lawyers have a monopoly over the provision
of legal services? By Gavin & Brooke Mackenzie; Winter 2016;
www.nationalmagazine.ca/Articles/Winter-2016/Should-lawyers-have-a-monopoly-over-the-provision.aspx
WHAT IS PRACTICE OF LAW? Practice of law means any activity, in or out of court, which requires the application of law, legal procedure, knowledge, training and experience. "To engage in the practice of law is to perform those acts which are characteristics of the profession. Generally, to practice law is to give notice or render any kind of service, which device or service requires the use in any degree of legal knowledge or skill."
The appearance of a lawyer in litigation in behalf of a client is at once the most publicly familiar role for lawyers as well as an uncommon role for the average lawyer. Most lawyers spend little time in courtrooms, and a large percentage spend their entire practice without litigating a case. (Ibid., p. 593). Nonetheless, many lawyers do continue to litigate and the litigating lawyer's role colors much of both the public image and the self perception of the legal profession. (G.R. No. 100113; September 3, 1991)
WHAT IS PRACTICE OF LAW? Practice of law means any activity, in or out of court, which requires the application of law, legal procedure, knowledge, training and experience. "To engage in the practice of law is to perform those acts which are characteristics of the profession. Generally, to practice law is to give notice or render any kind of service, which device or service requires the use in any degree of legal knowledge or skill."
The appearance of a lawyer in litigation in behalf of a client is at once the most publicly familiar role for lawyers as well as an uncommon role for the average lawyer. Most lawyers spend little time in courtrooms, and a large percentage spend their entire practice without litigating a case. (Ibid., p. 593). Nonetheless, many lawyers do continue to litigate and the litigating lawyer's role colors much of both the public image and the self perception of the legal profession. (G.R. No. 100113; September 3, 1991)