AboutPaul D. Friedman, M.A., Ph.D., J.D. Expertise I have been a practicing civil trial attorney since 1989 and have a master's degree in bioethics and a doctorate of philosophy in comparative ethics of law, medicine and business.
I am Certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and am Certified as a Specialist in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation by the State Bar of Arizona Board of Legal Specialization.
Experience Experience in the area I have been a practicing trial attorney since 1989 and I have a masters degree in bioethics and a doctorate of philosophy regarding comparative ethics.
Organizations belong to State Bar of Arizona
State Bar of Colorado (inactive)
District of Columbia Bar (inactive)
Federal Bar
Licensed in Arizona District Court
Licensed in Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Licensed in the United States Supreme Court American Bar Association National Board of Trial Advocacy
American Association for Justice
Arizona Trial Lawyers Association
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Kennedy Institute of Ethics National Association of Realtors
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Arts 1985
Juris Doctorate 1989
Master of Arts in Bioethics 2004 Doctorate of Philosphy 2006
Awards and Honors Phi Beta Kappa
Multiple Who's Who
Publications A list of my copyrighted publications and presentations is contained at WWW.EXPERTETHICS.COM
First and foremost, I did search the archives to see if this has already been answered...it has, but not as narrowly as I would like regarding my situation. Therefore, here I go again:
I have absolutely no legal training whatsoever, but having been in a jam in the past, I was pretty much forced to learn a little something about it (civil, not criminal). When friends have become involved in matters that they wind up handling pro se, which is obviously not very often, and have asked me to, I have helped them out when I could. I have helped them draft documents, do research, and whatnot, but I have obviously never even attended a hearing with them, even in the "audience". I am at this time kind of in the middle of a situation now, helping a friend in what has become a fairly complicated matter.
I know this is very generalized, and maybe too generalized to answer, but what line separates helping a friend out and practicing law w/o a license? (Louisiana)
Thanks!
Answer Flee,
Your description of involvement with friend's cases would most likely constitute the unauthorized practice of law. "Ghost Writing" is practicing law as is using legal reasoning for research because you make a decision as to what is relevant or irrelevant. If your role was simply to look for grammatical errors, this would most likely be editorial and not practicing law. It does not matter if you are getting paid or merely "helping" a friend. If you have to utilize legal reasoning for the benefit of someone other than yourself, you are most likely practicing law without a license.
