Alliance of Legal Document Assistant Professionals Successfully Pushes for Legislative Amendment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 15, 2009 -- California’s proposed Assembly Bill 590 would have outlawed many legal professionals who assist consumers handling their own legal matters.

While the bill’s intent was to make the courts more accessible to self-represented litigants, increase pro bono services offered by attorneys, and protect consumers from fraudulent “legal aid” businesses, AB 590 contained strong prohibitions against the delivery of self-help legal services. These provisions went unnoticed for months – until the Alliance of Legal Document Assistant Professionals (ALDAP) “broke the story” just 10 days before the final deadline for legislative amendments.

Upon the discovery of the bill’s troubling language– which would have made it illegal to sell forms or self-help services that are offered by a non-profit legal aid clinic – ALDAP expressed grave concern regarding the negative impact this would have – not only on legal document assistants, but also attorneys who offer limited scope services, and other professionals who are regulated under federal law, such as bankruptcy petition preparers.

“When ALDAP mustered its legislative forces, we were not content to merely carve out a narrow exception for LDAs,” said Kathleen Mountjoy, a paralegal and legal document assistant, and ALDAP's president. “ALDAP is deeply committed to big picture – balancing consumer protections with judicial access.”

“The Assembly Judiciary Committee’s response was swift,” said Mountjoy. “I received a call the next day from the Deputy Chief Counsel. I was delighted to hear his assurances that the legislators ‘in no way meant to prohibit LDAs from doing the much necessary and good work’ that we do for consumers, and that the bill would be amended accordingly.”

But there was much more work to be done. Other LDAs had become involved, and negotiated an amendment that exempted legal document assistants from the exclusionary language. ALDAP, however, remained a steadfast advocate for the availability of a range of affordable services, offered by a wide variety of self help legal professionals.

“While LDAs could rest easy knowing their livelihoods had been protected, ALDAP’s board continued to take issue with the remaining prohibitions against other self-help legal service providers, and the resulting elimination of several options consumers may select for assistance in resolving their legal issues,” said Suzanne Ervine, ALDAP’s vice president.

ALDAP’s persuasive efforts paid off. AB 590 was amended to remove the prohibitions against providing legal forms and self-help services, in their entirety. “Given the difficulty in balancing the conflicting public policy implications, we believe this is a better approach,” said Mountjoy.

The amended AB 590 must be signed by the governor to become law.

ALDAP is a non-profit corporation promoting consumer protection and professional integrity in the delivery of self-help legal services. For more information, visit http://www.aldap.org.

ab 590     Access     ALDAP     courts     justice     lda     Legal Aid     Legal document assistant     paralegal     pro se