• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Jay Sekulow

American attorney who serves as Chief Counsel at the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ)

Things You Should Know About Offering Legal Advice

May 9, 2018 By Jay Sekulow Leave a Comment

Things You Should Know About Offering Legal Advice

What exclusive powers does an attorney have? It’s an interesting question, and it has been the subject of a number of intense controversies over the years. Why should an attorney have exclusive powers? Is there something special about an attorney? If so, why? Why does society confer special authority to someone just because we call them a lawyer? Why are they called that in the first place?

All fifty states have specific laws and regulations governing the practice of law. These laws are very similar to those governing the practice of medicine, public accounting, or being a financial advisor, insurance salesperson or real estate broker. They are in place primarily to prevent a situation where a member of the public mistakenly relies on the expertise of someone who is not who they claim to be.

What is an Attorney?

There are two things an attorney can do that nobody else can. One, they can represent a client in a legal proceeding. This is a power conferred on them by operation of law and their membership in something called a “Bar Association.” The state Bar is an organization that requires its members to have graduated successfully from an accredited law school and to have passed an examination demonstrating their general competency to conduct a legal practice.

The second thing is practicing law itself. The “practice” of law essentially means dispensing legal advice to an individual client. Questions like how to prepare a defense, how to prosecute a lawsuit, which motions to file and when and so forth are questions that require expertise and a duty of care, since the wrong advice can lead to considerable consequences for a client.

All power, however, comes with responsibilities.

Duty:

An attorney has a legal duty to zealously advocate on their client’s behalf and to provide them appropriate legal counsel. Failing to perform either of these duties is called “malpractice” and can end an attorney’s career in exactly the same way botching a medical procedure could bring down a doctor.

Exclusive Power:

Because of these interlocking powers and responsibilities, and the legal obligations that go with them, state legislatures grant attorneys and their Bar Associations a monopoly on the practice of law. This gives the Bar Association the legal authority to enforce membership with both civil and criminal sanctions.

The justification for this grant of monopoly is the protection of the public interest. Individual citizens would be completely unable to function in society if anyone could impersonate an attorney. Not only would inaccurate, untimely and unprofessional legal advice produce chaos, but those harmed by reliance on bad advice could be irreparably harmed.

By and large, offering legal advice to an individual without being a member of the Bar exposes a person to both civil and criminal sanctions. It is the crime of “impersonating an Attorney” or “practicing law without license.” This is true with one very important exception.

The First Amendment:

While it is illegal to offer legal advice to a person in what might be considered an “attorney-client relationship” offering general legal advice to an audience, especially in writing, is a perfectly legal practice under the First Amendment to the Constitution. It isn’t the practice of law, it is the practice of a free press.

If a writer advises his readers to avoid answering questions in a police interrogation, that would be considered legal advice offered to the general public, which is not practicing law. If a writer advises one person or “client” which questions to answer in an interrogation, that would be considered impersonating an attorney, which would land that writer in jail right next to his former client.

The best advice is to avoid any situation that might be seen as offering an individual or even a company legal advice they may rely on to their detriment. Not only could it tangle you in the problems of your supposed client, it could generate problems of its own.

Jay Sekulow is the Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

Filed Under: Legal Advice Tagged With: Jay Sekulow, Legal Advice

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

About Jay Sekulow

Jay Sekulow is the Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). He is a renown lawyer with a passion for protecting religious liberty, freedom, and democracy.

Recent Posts

  • The Law School Graduate who Became the First Asian Miss Texas in History
  • GWU Supports Clarence Thomas Amidst Student Protests
  • Florida Coastal School of Law Allows Loan Forgiveness
  • The Death of Derek Hogan, a Prolific N.L. Legal Aid Lawyer
  •   Another 18 Months for  U.S. Protections to Venezuelans

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018

    Categories

    • Business
    • Family
    • Law
    • Law School
    • Legal Advice
    • Legal News
    • Legal Tips
    • News
    • Tips
    • Uncategorized

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org

    Copyright © 2018 · Jay Sekulow