June 21, 2022

‘Non-Lawyer Legal Help’ Are No Longer Banned Words in New York

Welcome back to the Big Law Business column on the changing legal marketplace written by me, Roy Strom. Today, we look at a case that pits free speech against the provision of legal advice by people who are not lawyers. Sign up to receive this column in your inbox on Thursday mornings. Programming Note: Big Law Business will be off next week for Memorial Day.

The late comedian George Carlin famously said there are seven words you can’t say on TV.

For non-lawyers, there have been far more than seven words they can’t say—if they drift anywhere close to practicing law. Those banned words include, “Check that box.”

But now that’s changing.

A federal judge in Manhattan this week ruled a non-profit can train regular people to provide free help for New Yorkers filling out responses to debt collection lawsuits.

The order lets Upsolve Inc.’s “justice advocates” tell debt collection defendants what boxes to check on a one-page response to the lawsuits.

The ruling could create a roadmap for other programs to provide less-expensive legal advice in other types of cases. The increasingly high cost of hiring a lawyer is driving similar efforts in other states.

Everyone involved in

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL

Two King Soopers workers file unfair labor charge against union after getting fined for crossing the picket line

Two King Soopers workers file unfair labor charge against union after getting fined for crossing the picket line

Two King Soopers employees who crossed the picket lines as union grocery employees went on strike in January for better wages — and were then fined by the union — filed an unfair labor charge against the union on Monday.

According to the complaint, the union fined Nick Hall $812 and Marcelo Ruybal $3,799. In a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board, attorneys representing the two workers called the union’s fines unfair and illegal.

Officials with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7’s officials did not respond to requests for comment.

“What this case is about are two workers who did decide to work despite what the UFCW officials wanted, and they resigned their union membership so they could do so,” said Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is representing the two workers. “The fact that the union doesn’t have the legal authority to issue such fines doesn’t always stop them from attempting to do so. Unfortunately, the incentives are basically there for them to try and fine everyone they can under the sun and then later figure out whether those fines are actually legal under federal labor

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL

‘Tennessee Justice Bus’ to bring legal advice to rural communities

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Supreme Court has a new program to bring legal help to rural and disadvantaged communities through the Tennessee Justice Bus.

The bus is filled with computers, a printer, internet access, video displays, and other office supplies.

Lawyers and volunteers will be able to provide on-the-spot access to legal help and meet Tennesseans where they are to address the technology gap many rural and disadvantaged citizens face.

Access to Justice has been one of the Tennessee Supreme Court’s top priorities.

They said contrary to popular belief, people are not guaranteed access to an attorney when they encounter civil legal issues.

People who can’t afford an attorney are left to handle a variety of legal issues on their own like evictions, child custody, debt and credit issues, and unfair labor practices.

The bus will help fill the gap.

The Tennessee Justice Bus will officially launch Monday morning in downtown Nashville.

The Tennessee Justice Bus will travel the state to provide pop-up legal services where needed. These legal clinics and community events are commonly held in conjunction with legal aid providers, churches, nonprofit organizations and public service providers

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL

Change Is On the Way. Law Firms Are Getting Ready

Faced with inflation, a looming recession and increased global regulation, law firms are looking at a lot of uncertainty. Even those still enjoying high demand for their services and basking in the increased profits and revenue they’ve experienced in the past year, know that change is likely on its way. So they are getting ready, taking steps they hope will insulate them from whatever is to come.

There are many ways to prepare for the big changes ahead but perhaps the most dramatic step a law firm has recently made took place last week in Australia. There, the fast-growing firm Wotten + Kearney, which specializes in insurance law, announced it is selling a 30% stake in the firm to a private equity company.

The law firm, which has 57 partners and more than 300 lawyers, wants to raise money to expand geographically—both in Australia and in Asia. It also wants to attract top talent, capture new market opportunities and invest in legal tech. It could have raised money by listing on a stock exchange—a move taken by other firms, both in the U.K. and in Australia. Or it could have pursued traditional financing. But instead, Wotten + Kearney did what

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL

How are law firms and in-house legal departments collaborating to deliver results?

“I think legal departments now are really focused on how do they narrow the funnel of work as much as possible to their own department, and that is through self-service or bots,” said Brenda Hansen, senior legal operations consultant at UpLevel Ops, an advisory firm for in-house legal departments. Through her lens, Hansen noted that legal departments are increasingly using technology to give their internal clients the best information they can before letting them go off on their own, and also outsourcing to alternative legal service providers.

Colin Miller, managing director at FTI Consulting added that teams are collecting and organizing data differently.

“The question has become ‘what do I do with this new form of data, and how do I transform it, and how do I enrich it in a way that allows me to do the things I used to do to make those legal decisions?’ so it has become more advisory in that regard,” said Miller. The change in data is forcing people to innovate very quickly, Miller added.

Collaboration is critical when it comes to cybersecurity so the team at Fasken have developed a collaborative privacy protection program for their clients.

“The Fasken Edge site helps

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June 21, 2022 by LEGAL
June 2022
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