Law Firm with one lawyer and hundreds of legal experts who haven't passed the bar

Question

In this hypothetical scenario lets say there was a law firm that has only one lawyer to file all paper work, make all court room appearances to represent the firm. All of his work, however preparing for cases and communicating with individuals is done by hundreds of legal experts who have not passed the bar. The law firm does not hide this fact.

Is this illegal? Is this done in practice on a smaller scale? Could one lawyer be actively involved in several different legal cases if legal experts who have not passed the bar are doing all the grunt work? What are the limitations of what a legal expert who has not passed the bar can do?

Answer 1

A Lawyer may hire paralegals, clerks, secretaries, and other assistants. The lawyer may hire as many as s/he pleases, and assign them whatever tasks s/he chooses.

However, some kinds of documents may need to be signed by the lawyer (which ones will depend on the jurisdiction, in the US on the state). During the so-called "robo-signing scandal" it was held that, in some US states at least, a lawyer who signs certain kinds of documents without reviewing them has failed to perform the duties imposed on the lawyer by the law, and the documents may be invalid. Large numbers of mortgage foreclosure cases were dismissed when it became known that the lawyer signing relevant documents had not in fact reviewed them (or in some cases had not even signed them, but had permitted a non-lawyer to sign the lawyer's name).

In addition, some functions in some jurisdictions must be performed by an actual lawyer. For example, paralegals and other non-lawyers cannot validly give legal advice. Only a lawyer can represent a client in court. And so on.

I question whether one lawyer could in most kinds of practice keep up with the work of "hundreds" of non-lawyers, but that would depend on the kind of work done by the firm. In the US, some law firms are essentially collection agencies. There a single lawyer with many many assistants suffices, I understand, and that structure is not uncommon in the US.

Answer 2

Some kinds of practices are bottom heavy, with lots of administrative and paralegal staff relative to attorney employees.

Examples including consumer side bankruptcy firms that represent debtors, foreclosure and collections law firms, and firms specializing in routine probate administration cases. On the transactional side, administering intellectual property paperwork compliance or business compliance with getting transactions documented is often bottom heavy. Some document intensive class-action and big commercial cases can be bottom heavy with lots of document organization involved.

The main issue when it comes to unauthorized practice of law would be meeting with clients in order to give clients legal advice. Non-lawyers aren't supposed to do that. They can help gather data, pass on messages, calendar deadlines, prepare rough drafts of legal documents under the supervision of a lawyer, and keep files organized, but non-lawyers cannot provide legal advice, negotiate on behalf of a client, sign off on court filings, appear in court, take depositions, or share in firm profits. These restrictions limit the usefulness of high levels of legal expertise in paralegals and other staff members.