Showing posts with label New York City Bar Association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York City Bar Association. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Volunteer Lawyer for a Day Project in New York City Demonstrates that Clients Want Unbundled Legal Services from Qualified Attorneys

      In 2008, the American Bar Association published the results of a "test of unbundled legal services in the New York City Housing Court." The study showed that, just as many in the group expected, litigants were pleased with the unbundled legal services they received.

     Here's an excerpt:

"During the interviews with Judge Schneider, she stated that based on the tenants’ responses during settlement stipulation allocutions, she expected that tenants’ levels of satisfaction with the unbundled representation would be high.
As Judge Schneider hypothesized, the litigants were enthusiastically supportive of the program, and very grateful for the services they received. 

All the litigants spoken with and surveyed found the program helpful, and ninety-three percent found their attorney very helpful. 

Not one litigant had a complaint either about the program or their attorney. 

Among the comments generated by the focus group meeting and surveys taken, the litigants explained that having an attorney for just one morning made a big difference. 

The overriding feeling about the program was best summed up by one litigant at the focus group meeting who said that when you go to court without an attorney as opposed to with an attorney, you feel the landlord’s attorney has the power and you don’t; but, when you have a lawyer, you have the power too. (Emphasis added)."

Read the Entire Report:

A Joint Report by: Office of the Administrative Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York, the Office of the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives and the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Services to Persons of Moderate Means. February 2008

Friday, November 4, 2011

New York City Law Association Endorses Legal Ghostwriting

     In Opinion 742 dated April 16, 2010, the NYCLA expressly supported the practice of legal ghostwriting for the first time. The law association noted legal ghostwriting's close relationship to unbundled legal services in its opinion, which the New York State Bar Association expressly approved in 2009.

Excerpt: "Given New York’s adoption of Rule 1.2(c) and the allowance of limited scope representation, it is now ethically permissible for an attorney, with the informed consent of his or her client, to play a limited role and prepare pleadings and other submissions for a pro se litigant without disclosing the lawyer’s participation to the tribunal and adverse counsel…"

READ THE ENTIRE OPINION:

Topic: Can a lawyer ethically remain behind the scenes of a litigation and prepare pleadings and other submissions for a pro se litigant without disclosing the lawyer's participation to the court and adverse counsel? April 16, 2010.