Lower the Bar for Legal Eagles Who Don’t Go to Law School

You shouldn’t need three years of ABA-accredited education to provide basic advice on a contract.

By Clifford Winston. He is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Excerpts:

"Legal advice is what economists call a “credence good” because, like auto repairs and medical procedures, its quality is difficult for consumers to evaluate accurately, even after purchase. Thanks to technological advances, many industries have made strides toward reducing the cost of imperfect information associated with credence goods. Websites like Angie’s List (now Angi) and Yelp, as well as social media platforms, inform consumers about the quality, reputation, and performance of service providers, such as plumbers, electricians and landscapers. Similar websites, such as Avvo and Martindale-Hubbell, let consumers search for lawyers.

The consequence of unnecessary restrictions on legal education is to pad lawyers’ pockets, not to benefit consumers of legal services. Indeed, limited access to justice, which subsumes access to legal representation and to the courts, is a reality for most people. The nonprofit Legal Services Corporation estimates that the legal profession fails to serve 80% of the public and limits access to their services. Nearly 90% of the civil legal problems reported by low-income Americans “received inadequate or no legal help,” according to the organization’s 2017 “Justice Gap” report.

Considering the limited extent of legal representation, does anyone believe that a graduate of the Yale M.S.L. program couldn’t improve access to justice by providing some legal services? At the very least, graduate students at a great university learn the best material to read and the best people to consult for advice. Apparently, the self-taught can provide effective legal advice, because a 15-year-old high school student became the most requested legal expert on the website AskMeHelpDesk.com. Graduates of Yale’s M.S.L. program, who wouldn’t be burdened by three years of debt and absence from the labor force, could provide inexpensive civil legal help to people who otherwise wouldn’t even consider hiring a lawyer because of the cost."

"Alternative educational institutions would offer new programs, including night school and vocational and online courses that could be completed in less than a year and provide certification for specialized practitioners. New programs could let undergraduates major in and receive a bachelor’s degree in law—as universities in Canada, the United Kingdom, France and other countries do. Some college graduates could immediately provide legal services that don’t require advanced study or considerable practical experience, such as small-claims court representation and advice on simple contracts."