Court rules against legal-aid service

One justice called for a definitive test to assure 'only those licensed to practice law' can do so in Ohio.
By MICHELE HLADIK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A Las Vegas-based legal-aid service was found by the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday to have unlawfully practiced law in Trumbull County and was ordered never to do it again.
"The practice of law is not limited to appearances in court," the high court's decision read. "It also embraces the preparation of papers that are to be filed in court on another's behalf and that are otherwise incident to a lawsuit."
In 2004, a Trumbull County couple reportedly paid Legal Aid State Services Inc. $251 to prepare court documents involving the adoption of the wife's children by her husband.
The adoption petitions were prepared by two unlicensed employees, according to the Supreme Court's decision.
The couple's attorney at the time found out about their involvement with the company and arranged to stop payment on the $251, the decision stated.
The matter was also brought to the Trumbull County Bar Association, which filed a grievance, and to a panel of the Ohio Supreme Court's Board on the Unauthorized Practice of Law.
The board recommended the company be forbidden from the practice of unlicensed employees preparing legal documents, and the high court agreed.
No penalties
No fees or civil penalties were recommended or imposed.
"The board found that [the company's] infraction was not flagrant enough to warrant a fine and that the adopting couple had been able to recoup the money," the high court's decision read.
Justice Terrence O'Donnell agreed with the decision, but wrote an additional decision stating his belief that the court should "adopt a bright-line test involving the capacity in which persons appear in the courts of this state.
"Today's opinion, I think, therefore, only further blurs the lines of demarcation for the public and for the lawyers of our state who try to adhere to the fuzzy rules that seem to ebb and flow based on the particular facts of the cases before us," Justice O'Donnell said. "There should be no doubt whatsoever that only those licensed to practice law in the state of Ohio are authorized to act in a representative capacity in any court of law. By adopting a capacity test, we would end the confusion and better the profession."