Legal Profession Commons^™

There Goes The Monopoly: The California Proposal To Allow Nonlawyers To Practice Law, Kathleen E. Justice

Vanderbilt Law Review

Lawyers love to compete, but only with each other. The legal profession consistently has fought outside competition and successfully has controlled competition to ensure professional survival. Lawyers control competition through participation in bar associations, legislatures, and courts. For example, state statutes and bar association regulations' forbid the practice of law by nonlawyerss To enforce this prohibition, all states require that state and professional bar associations certify individuals as competent legal practitioners before they can practice law. Courts generally have upheld these statutes and regulations. Thus, lawyers have succeeded in limiting outside competition.

These limitations, however, may be resulting in denial …