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The Overreach of Limits on “Legal Advice”

Yale Law Journal, Vol 131, 2021-22. The Overreach of Limits on “Legal Advice” 03 Jan 2022 Lauren Sudeall: “Nonlawyers, including court personnel, are typically prohibited from providing legal advice. But definitions of “legal advice” are unnecessarily broad, creating confusion, disadvantaging self-represented litigants, and possibly raising due-process concerns. This Essay argues for a narrower, more explicit definition of legal advice that advances, rather than undercuts, access to justice. Those who work in courts—including judges and clerks—are extremely wary of and typically prohibited from providing legal advice. This Essay argues that current definitions and applications of “legal advice” are overly and unnecessarily broad, confusing those bound by them, severely disadvantaging pro se litigants, undermining the purpose of such limitations, and, in more extreme cases, implicating due-process concerns expressed by the Supreme Court in Turner v. Rogers… [h/t Library Boy]

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