There is an interesting article out of Hawaii:

The Hawaii Supreme Court is considering a proposal by the Hawaii State Bar Association that amends high court rules to spell out the prohibition against the unauthorized practice of law.

The proposal is aimed at clarifying a state law that makes the unauthorized practice by nonlawyers a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

The public has until Friday to submit comments.

Marais, who is not an lawyer, said the proposal goes too far by prohibiting a nonlawyer from "selecting, drafting or completing documents that affect the legal rights of another person."

"This basically shuts me down," she said.

Marais is not alone in her criticism of the proposal. Nearly 40 others submitted comments as of last week that criticize the proposal as overly broad.

Most focused on the provision relating to documents, but others pointed to proposed prohibitions against "performing legal research" or "giving advice or counsel to another person about the person's legal rights and obligations or the legal rights and obligations of others."

What I also want to add is that Christine's excellent blog has a lot about the threat to paralegals trying to make a living, like this one:

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A 47-year old Westminster paralegal has been charged with falsely representing himself as an attorney to clients. The paralegal, John Gerard Hedderman, took on civil cases relating to divorces, child custody, and bankruptcy.

He is being charged with two felony counts of grand theft, three counts of unauthorized practice of law, one count of second-degree commercial burglary and 10 felony counts of false impersonation. Hedderman faces up to 12 years and three months in prison if convicted. He is out of jail after posting $70,000 bail.

So here we have the spector of paralegals under threat. I have spoken to a number of paralegals, most recently for a paralegal salary survey, and I can tell you that this is a bummer because it is difficult for paralegals to become independent unless they only work under attorneys.

There is another option, which is lawsuit financing as a business for paralegals. See lawsuit funding franchises and how they work, and info on this home based franchise that is perfect for paralegals.

This beats paralegals document preparation as a home based business because you are not doing anything that competes with lawyers. You are instead helping lawyers by helping their clients who are waiting for settlements so the clients can make ends meet and take the pressure off the lawyers.

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