Friday, March 12, 2010

Regulating the Supply of Law

From the "Friends and Relatives of the Department" Files...
The ways that states regulate professions is a topic of sociological interest.  The degree to which citizens have access to legal services to solve legal problems is a topic of sociological interest. As argued previously on this blog("Equality, Information and the Courts Redux," "Democracy and the Information Order," "Courts and the Information Order," "Suing for Information"), the way the courts work is a topic of sociology of information interest. In this op-ed, these issues come together in a sociologically interesting way. You may recognize the author of the piece as my sometime co-author (and wife).
-- Dan.

A case for legal aid at Wal-Mart

By Gillian Hadfield
Friday, March 12, 2010

The United States stands largely alone in advanced-market democracies in drastically restricting where and how people can get help with their legal problems. In all states, under rules created by bar associations and state supreme courts, only people with law degrees and who are admitted to the state bar can provide legal advice and services of any kind. [Read More]