Your Legal Rights in Alaska -- Protecting Yourself Against the Unauthorized Practice of Law
by: Alaska Bar Association
It takes a lot to become a lawyer. In almost all cases, you have to have a high school diploma, a college degree, and a law school degree. That's 19 years of education.
In Alaska, you have to pass a written bar examination. This is a two and a half day test that tests a person's knowledge of the law, the ability to spot legal problems in a set of facts, and to write in a persuasive and understandable way. It is one of the hardest tests in the United States.
You also have to have character and fitness to practice law. You must be an honest, fair, and reliable person. You must provide character references, list the places you have lived in the past, the employers you have worked for, other licenses you have held, and submit your fingerprints so that the Bar Association may learn whether you have any criminal history. The Bar Association does not want lawyers who will lie, cheat or steal.
After that, you have to continue to study the law to keep current on changes because there will always be changes. Lawyers do this by reading the latest cases from the courts, law review articles or attending formal training courses called Continuing Legal Education.
Lawyers are required to follow ethical rules called the Rules of Professional Conduct. These rules spell out a lawyer's duties to the lawyer's clients, the courts, the public, and other lawyers.
The Bar Association has a Discipline Section that is responsible for investigating complaints against lawyers and filing ethics charges against those lawyers who violate the rules. The Bar has a staff of seven people involved in this process and spends over $600,000 a year to protect the public from unethical lawyers.
Serious violations include taking money from a client and doing no work, stealing money given to the lawyer for safekeeping, lying to clients or other persons, and filing false documents or presenting false testimony in court. Lawyers who commit serious violations of the rules may be suspended from practice or disbarred. This means that they can not practice law during the period they are suspended or disbarred. This prevents them from harming other people.
Right now, Alaska has a law that makes the unauthorized practice of law a misdemeanor, or a minor crime. It prohibits a person from saying that he or she is a lawyer when they are not and then providing legal services, such as appearing for another in court or filing pleadings or, for money, advising another person on the law or preparing documents.
A person may tell you that they are not a lawyer, but that you can trust what they say. They may not be violating this law because they are not saying that they are lawyers.
But, these people are very dangerous to your legal rights. They may think that they know what they are talking about, but they don't have the training and experience to give you good advice.
Think about this. Would you want to have your arm fixed by a person with no medical training? Would you want your house built by a person with no knowledge of building codes or construction techniques ? Would you want your car fixed by someone who knew nothing about cars? Of course not. Remember it takes 19 years to become a lawyer. 19 years. The law is not something you can learn in a couple of weeks.
What's more, there is probably little you can do if you have been harmed by this person. You could complain to the police, but only if they say that they are lawyers and they aren't. You could sue them in court, but that's complicated and expensive.
The Bar Association does not have authority over nonlawyers. The Bar cannot suspend or disbar them because they are not lawyers. At present, there is no effective way for the Bar to help you get your money back for a bad advice.
Immigration law is a very complicated area of practice. There are many rules that must be strictly followed. The wrong statement or the wrong form can result in your loss of an important right or worse, deportation from the United States and separation from your family.
Seek legal help from those who are qualified to give it you. You have much to lose if you trust the wrong person.
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