CBA Record May-June 2020

LEGAL ETHICS BY JOHN LEVIN

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Legal Services During and After the Pandemic W hen I began thinking about this column a few months ago, the draft began by reviewing recent

give up and forfeit their rights). At this moment we are entering a time of massive contract breaches. People cannot pay what they owe if they cannot earn a living. Contract providers cannot provide the services they agreed to provide. Large institutions can hire lawyers to protect their interests, but the average person cannot. Similarly, we are experiencing massive gov- ernmental intervention in the health and financial arenas. Thousand-page laws are not for the average person to understand. The average person will need help in trying to take full advantage of these laws. Even as I write this column, the internet and other media are filled with offers of advice on how to take advantage of newly provided benefits, or how to avoid mort- gage foreclosure, or how to stay in business during social distancing. Much of this advice is, by necessity, legal advice. So in addition to the medical challenges of the pandemic, the person of “low or moderate income” must find and pay for a lawyer – or simply forgo his or her rights. The pandemic has vastly intensified the problem I originally wanted to address – why do we have so many laws that create a demand for so many lawyers? A major reason seems to be that our society attempts to regulate itself and solve problems by writ- ing contracts and passing laws. That may not change. But perhaps - in the interest of helping those of “low or moderate income” among us ‒ the time has come to loosen, at least temporarily, the restrictions on getting and giving legal assistance.

developments in the ABA, various state supreme courts, and the Illinois ARDC addressing the crisis in access to justice by a large segment of low- andmoderate-income Americans who are unable to obtain effec- tive civil legal assistance. Possible solutions ran from loosening the restrictions on the “practice of law” to allowing non-lawyers to have an interest in a law practice. The purpose of the changes was to make legal services available and affordable. The body of the column in its original version was to focus on the question – why do we have so many laws and legal issues that the average person of moderate means needs so much access to lawyers? Once upon a time, the “family lawyer” handled estate matters, the occasional real estate matter, and maybe a lawsuit. Today we live in a regulatory society and run into legal issues all the time. I intended to give various examples of these regulations. The events arising out of the pandemic have overtaken much of what I was writing. However, they provide a living response to my question. The average person of moderate means today is enmeshed in a web of contractual obligations probably beyond his or her realization. If you are an attorney reading this column, you probably read a document before you sign it or click “I accept”. But most people do not. On an average day, some number of people will breach some of these contracts and need legal assistance to find a solution (or simply

John Levin is the retiredAssistant General Counsel of GATXCorporation and a member of the CBARecord Editorial Board.

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