A new complaint this week against LegalZoom for the unauthorized practice of law, this time from LegalForce RAPC, a patent and trademark filing firm. The complaint alleges that non-lawyer “trademark document specialists” “provid[e] legal advice to the plaintiffs by selecting classification and modifying the goods and services description from the template thereby applying specific law to facts.”
More from the ABA Journal.
The Florida Supreme Court will hear a case from the Florida Bar, asserting that the website TIKD.com violates unauthorized practice of law. There is also an issue of whether the information advertised on the site was false and misleading.
TIKD.com had sued the Florida Bar and the Ticket Clinic in federal court back in November, and the Ticket Clinic has filed a bar grievance against the lawyers who represent TIKD.com.
The Miami Herald reports this latest development in the saga here.
The TIKD website is here.
This case will definitely be a supplement to my discussion of Chapter 2.
Professor Amy Salyzyn from the U. of Ottawa has circulated to the Canadian legal ethics community a link to this video entitled “But I was Wearing a Suit…” She also provided this description:
A compelling video that listserv members may be interested in watching. For those who teach legal ethics, also content to consider adding to our syllabi. As described on YouTube:
“A grassroots project of a group of Indigenous Lawyers, with the support of CLEBC and the Law Society of BC. To encourage discussion about stereotyping and bias within the legal profession, Indigenous lawyers were asked to submit their stories about the racism and stereotyping they have faced in the practice of law”
Amy is correct that this is a compelling and powerful video. It is about 25 minutes long, but you can watch as much or as little of it as you want. It contains numerous snippets of indigenous Canadian lawyers reciting into the camera their experiences, including numerous examples of times in which they were assumed not to be lawyers or treated rudely by fellow lawyers or court personnel. This could be very useful to assign or show in class when teaching Rule 8.4(g).
Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach 