Class Action Claims Online Legal Forms Pose Threat To Consumers ...

By Nathan Koppel

There is a Missouri class action set for trial next month, which is worth following.

The case claims that LegalZoom.com, which sells do-it-yourself wills, leases and other documents online, is illegally practicing law in the state of Missouri.

Last week, Missouri federal judge Nanette K. Laughrey partially rejected LegalZoom?s motion for summary judgment and set the case for trial on August 22.

In a statement issued yesterday, LegalZoom said that if the plaintiffs win at trial, it could dramatically impact the? availability of self-help legal books and forms in Missouri.

?If the plaintiffs are successful, we believe it is going to become a lot more expensive for small businesses and individuals to obtain basic legal forms,? Chas Rampenthal, Legal Zoom?s General counsel, said in the statement. ?Missouri would become the only state in the nation to take away a consumer?s right to access online legal document software.?

The LawBlog today talked to David Butsch, counsel to the plaintiffs? class, which, he said, consists of as many as 15,000 users of LegalZoom products.

The suit contends that by selling online legal documents, LegalZoom is violating a Missouri law that bars non-lawyers from preparing legal documents.

?The state licensure of attorneys was established to protect the public from those untrained and uneducated in the practice of law,? Butsch said. The preparation of wills and other legal documents ?may seem simple to a layman, but they aren?t,? he added. ?There are consequences of signing a will . . .and those consequences can be great and they can?t be properly communicated by a company over the internet.?

We asked Butsch about the concern that many have voiced that legal services are cost prohibitive to many consumers, a problem that has likely become even more acute in recent years.

Aren?t online legal documents, however crude, preferable to having folks go without any form of legal guidance? In response, Butsch noted that there is now a glut of legal talent in the market, with many law graduates unable to find full-time employment. That fact, he said, has made customized legal help from practicing lawyers increasingly affordable. ?I know quite a few lawyers who offer a quality legal service at very good rates,? he said.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/07/27/class-action-claims-online-legal-forms-pose-threat-to-consumers/

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