William & Mary Business Law Review
Abstract
Since the inception of bar associations in the early twentieth century, states have promulgated rules that prohibit unlicensed individuals from providing legal services. These unauthorized practice of law rules have created a monopoly on legal services, which in turn has inflated the price of obtaining legal services to a point where a significant percentage of individuals who need such services are unable to obtain them. Legal software has the potential to disrupt the market for legal services and make such services available to the mass market. However, for innovation and widespread use of legal software to gain traction, these unauthorized practice of law rules must be eliminated. In their place, various guards must be adopted by state and federal legal authorities to ensure consumers are protected following the elimination of unauthorized practice of law rules, including but not limited to the expansion of current false advertising and malpractice law.