Legal Services Franchise Sued for Unauthorized Practice of Law. Here's a story for lawyers and franchisors alike. We the People, USA, Inc., the franchisor of We the People legal forms businesses, was recently sued in Dallas County by the Texas Supreme Court's unauthorized practice of law committee. Citing a substantial number of complaints against We the People, the committee filed a complaint seeking to prevent We the People from engaging in unauthorized legal practice because the nature of its business necessarily involves the dispensing of legal advice by non-lawyers. We the People claims that it has prevailed in these suits in other states because it only provides fill-in-the-blank forms and does not even direct customers to the correct forms. We the People also retains supervising attorneys in each state to ensure that it does engage in the practice of law. Although the case is now pending against We the People, the committee has not ruled out later moving against the supervising attorneys for their role in assisting the franchises.
Posted by franchiselawblog at September 23, 2003 02:27 PM