Also known as: legal paper · legal documents
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
Documents prepared or filed to assert or defend legal rights in court.
Preparation of such documents by a nonlawyer who also provides advice on remedies or procedures constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Documents prepared or filed to assert or defend legal rights in court.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Preparation of such documents by a nonlawyer who also provides advice on remedies or procedures constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Officers arrived at Lorenzo Lugo's apartment with an arrest warrant but lacked a search warrant for the premises. They entered without consent and seized evidence while serving the arrest papers. The court suppressed the evidence because the officers had no authority to enter the home to execute the legal papers without a separate warrant.
Lattice Systems lost a federal securities suit brought by the SEC. When a shareholder later filed a class action raising identical claims, the court applied issue preclusion to the legal papers already litigated. The prior judgment bound the company on the same issues presented in the new complaint.
Liam Larson challenged a local ban that required registration of handguns kept in the home. The court examined the legal papers he filed asserting an individual right to possess firearms for self-defense. It held that the registration requirement violated the Second Amendment as applied to his situation.
Lakewood Manufacturing ordered computers from a vendor. The box arrived containing a printed set of legal papers that included an arbitration clause and a return policy. When a dispute arose, the court enforced the terms because the buyer had accepted the legal papers by keeping the goods rather than returning them.
Lighthouse Shipping contracted to buy frozen chicken parts described in the legal papers as Grade A. When the seller delivered a lower grade, the buyer sued for breach. The court looked to the language of the legal papers and trade usage to determine what the parties meant by the description.
Prison officials violate inmates' right of access to the courts when they impose unreasonable restrictions that impede the preparation and filing of legal papers. Meaningful access requires adequate law libraries or assistance from trained persons. Destruction of an inmate's legal papers can also raise due process concerns when it occurs through established state procedures.
Supporting sources
Lucia Lopez visited a storefront service where the operator interviewed her about her marriage and children, selected the correct divorce forms, and instructed her on how to complete financial disclosures and serve papers. The operator charged a fee for this assistance. When the court later reviewed the filings, it determined that the operator had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by preparing the legal papers and giving procedural advice.
A nonlawyer engages in the unauthorized practice of law by preparing legal documents such as divorce papers and advising customers on remedies, procedures, and form completion. The prohibition applies even if the nonlawyer does not claim to be a lawyer. Nonlawyers may only type forms that clients have already completed without guidance.
Supporting sources
…nature," and thus keep the administration of law in accord with the wishes and feelings of the community. O. Holmes, Collected Legal Papers 237 (1920). Those who favored juries believed that a jury would reach a result that a judge either could not or would not reach.[^maj-11] It is with these values that underlie the Seventh…