​by Tom Gordon

Today, the World Justice Project released its annual Rule of Law Index, ranking the commitment of 140 countries to the rule of law. Although the United States ranked 26th overall, it continued to perform among the worst in the world in access to its civil legal system.

In the category, “People Can Access and Afford Civil Justice," the U.S. ranked 115th out of 142 countries. It scored—by far—the worst among high-income countries  In fact, its ranking was near the median of countries in the low-income tier, consisting of the 18 poorest countries surveyed. According to the Index, access and affordability of legal help in the U.S. is around the same as it is in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.

by Tom Gordon

Responsive Law has filed a brief in support of the South Carolina NAACP in its effort to provide free legal advice to tenants facing eviction proceedings in the state. South Carolina has one of the highest eviction rates in the country. Additionally, 99% of South Carolinians facing eviction go through the process without any legal representation. However, the state's restrictions on the unauthorized practice of law ("UPL") make it a felony for anyone but a lawyer to provide legal advice. Our brief argues that these UPL restrictions are a violation of the First Amendment rights of South Carolinians to receive information from the NAACP.

by Tom Gordon

The American Bar Association is cracking down on voices for change within its membership, including threats to the continuing existence of its Center for Innovation and wholesale changes to the Center's board that appear designed to neuter it. This crackdown came to light in conjunction with the ABA's cancellation of a piece that I co-authored for the Center for Innovation, which was scheduled to be published this week. Bob Ambrogi has throughly reported the story here.

by Tom Gordon

In a brief filed yesterday, Responsive Law urged the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to uphold a lower court decision preventing the New York attorney general from enforcing unauthorized practice of law (UPL) laws against a nonprofit providing consumers with free legal advice about debt collection using experts who are not lawyers.

Responsive Law's brief emphasizes that not only does the nonprofit have a First Amendment right to speak on legal matters, but that the recipients of this speech have a right to hear it.

Furthermore, the state's claimed interest in protecting consumers from harm ignores the history of UPL laws in New York. There is clear historical evidence that these laws were put in place at the urging of lawyers to protect them from competition, Consumer protection was merely an after-the-fact justification.

Responsive Law also argues that the state cannot claim that it is protecting consumers when the “protection” it provides cuts them off from the only legal help available to them.

Responsive Law would like to thank Greg Beck for his volunteer work in writing the brief. You can read our entire brief in ​Upsolve v. James here.

by Tom Gordon

Today, the World Justice Project released its annual Rule of Law Index, ranking the commitment of 140 countries to the rule of law. Although the United States ranked 28th overall, it continued to perform among the worst in the world in access to its civil legal system.