Re: Law Profession Regulation Act 3439

[b3n|<3r|\|]

This is my suggestion for a law to regulate the law profession, that is, lawyers:

OLD TEXT
LawBook Chapter VII, C:
1. Terms
a. The person who initiates the action before the court is the Plaintiff.
b. The person required to answer the action before the court is the Defendant.
c. Any person brought by a Plaintiff or Defendant to give statement is a witness.
2. Plaintiffs and Defendants speak on their own behalf.

NEW TEXT
LawBook Chapter VII, C:
1. Terms
a. The person who initiates the action before the court is the Plaintiff.
b. If the Plaintiff is the Imperial government, an Imperial Inquisitor may be appointed.
c. The person required to answer the action before the court is the Defendant.
d. Any person brought by a Plaintiff or Defendant to give statement is a witness.
e. Only a citizen who is licensed by the Imperial Judex to practice law may be contracted as an Advocate or appointed as an Imperial Inquisitor.
f. The Arbiter in a court action may not be contracted as an Advocate, or appointed as an Imperial Inquisitor, in the same or a related court action.
2. Plaintiffs and Defendants may either speak on their own behalf, or contract an Advocate to speak on their behalf.

VII.C.1.e just didn't exist to be honest. The licensing should be a matter of accreditation, but only that. I feel it's wrong that you NEED to be licensed to be contracted as Advocate or Inquisitor. People on and off the Bar should be able, but people on the Bar should be desired... and could be paid more for their services. Economy anyone?

[Malliki]

Perhaps only members of the Bar could charge for advocate service, with unlicensed people having to do pro bono work.

[b3n|<3r|\|]

That could also work. I just don't like the idea of ONLY members of the Bar being ABLE. Because (though I intend on joining the Bar myself) I'm sure there will probably be some able-minded lawyers among Shireroth's denizens who may not want to join the Bar but still want to practise law.

[Andreas the Wise]

Doesn't the word "contract" heavily imply "ask to do work for money?" The way I read it, contract means other people can still represent you, but for no fees.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

What problem is this bill trying to solve? The surplus of unlicensed, poor-quality lawyers? I haven't seen ANY unlicensed, poor-quality lawyers. If anything, there are too few people getting involved in law and other sectors of the economy. So why exactly are we trying to set up more barriers to make it harder?

The only good justification I can think of for this bill is that lawyers who don't know what they're talking about can waste the Judex's time and make trials harder to conduct. But of course, this is still possible now; they just won't make any money doing it. So this is a non-solution to a non-problem.

I also note that there is a 50 erb fee to take the bar exam. This is Shireroth's first example of the "you need money to make money" syndrome that afflicts the real world, and I don't know that I like it.