An Introduction To Upl

I am not a lawyer, I am a Judgment Broker. This article is my opinion, based on my California experiences, and laws are different in each state. If you ever need a strategy to use or legal advice, please contact a lawyer.

Even when one is an attorney, it might be scary to get charged with a complaint for Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL), by a State Attorney General, a district attorney, or a US Attorney General (or their deputies). When one are not a lawyer, that would really be scary. In California, UPL is a crime, not a civil tort.

To practice law without being licensed is a crime, and if noticed, is usually energetically punished.

An glaring instance of UPL would be if you represented yourself as an attorney when you aren't. Some less obvious examples of UPL would be (if one is not an attorney):

1) Representing someone else on a legal matter or in court, except when working as a court-approved interpreter.

2) Working in any legal capacity for someone else.

3) Offering actual legal advice.

4) Representing anyone as a "loan modification specialist".

5) Recovering a judgment for anyone else. When one is not an attorney or a collection agency, they must own a judgment before they can legally recover it. The proof of ownership is a court-endorsed and notarized assignment of judgment.

The function that judgment enforcers perform, is somewhat similar to those who buy homes, fix them up, and then sell them. They're not real estate agents or brokers (unless they are licensed as such). Although they may sell their own houses (and must therefore know about the real estate law), they cannot sell homes for other people.

There are a few UPL gray areas, for example in certain situations, non-attorney advocates may represent children and parents.

In the majority of places in the US, UPL charges originate primarily from extreme or outrageous behavior. Here are some situations which are usually not considered UPL:

1) If, as a mistake, a sheriff, process server, or court, names you as the lawyer on record.

2) If anyone or a judge mistakes you for being an attorney, E.G., they call you "counselor".

3) If one sends proposed orders or letters to the court.

4) Representing yourself in court.

Anyone can sue anyone for any reason, including no valid reason. Judgment debtors have tried or threatened to sue judgment recovery specialists for recovering a judgment they owned.

If the recovery specialist owns a judgment and has complied with every law, they or their attorney can file a simple demurrer (a claim that there is no legal basis for the lawsuit), and the matter might be dismissed quickly.

Anyone enforcing judgments needs to keep UPL in mind. In certain courts, local policies, people, or organizations, consider judgment recovery to be the Unauthorized Practice of Law. When this happens, the right things to do include looking up your state laws, asking to speak to a supervisor or the judge, and hiring a lawyer to get their advice.

A wrong thing to do when this happens, is to communicate "so and so enforces judgments, why can't I"?

I know of a enforcer, that a judge tossed out of court, as he did not own the judgment outright. The enforcer responded by submitted to the court the addresses, names, web sites, and phone numbers for nearly 50 other enforcers working in their state, asking the court "they do it, so why can't I"?

That was the wrong action to take on so many levels; and did not work any better than telling a police officer "everyone else was driving this fast".

Only a State Attorney General, district attorney, or a US Attorney General's office, could sue for the Unauthorized Practice of Law alone. In civil litigation situations, the Unauthorized Practice of Law is only an "add-on".

If one really messes up and cause actual damages, someone might add UPL punitive damages with Business And Professions Code 17200, or Civil Code 3294, when there is a cause of action against you already, for breach of contract or negligence.

There are a few situations when one can allege UPL in civil causes of action to recover damages. Two examples would be for malice, fraud and oppression, as the causes of action with exemplary or punitive damages, as defined in CCP 3294, or the Unfair Practices Act as defined in Business And Professions Code 17000.

When there is not any case law specifically covering a particular issue, you don't want to be a cause for a new case law.

Most judgment enforcers will never have to worry about UPL, as long as they stay careful in their businesses, not to cross the line into UPL.

Attorneys aren't allowed to share fees their fees with non-lawyers. Attorneys may only pay referral fees to other attorneys. An attorney may work for a non-attorneys only if the lawyers's services are not being offered to the public. A non-lawyers cannot operate or own a legal firm.