Lately there have been company's popping up who have been offering certain legal services to the public. Generally speaking, UPL is defined as follows:
A nonlawyer (or paralegal) may not 1. advise a client on any legal matter, 2. represent a client in a court of law, 3. set fees, and negotiate a settlement.
Now it really isn't a criminal offense to practice law, a nonlawyer if caught will get a no-no from the Colorado Supreme Court and be put on a list. The only real consequence to UPLing is if you one decides to go to law school and take the bar, one may be prohibited from obtaining a license.
To illustrate how the elements work, consider the following facts:
Nonlawyer sets up shop to provide assistance to pro se litigants. Nonlawyer sets prices for the different services like document prep, document review, legal research, writing and analysis, translations, notary, etc.
Right here, setting up a price for these services is practicing law because a nonlawyer may not set fees. Now if pro se litigant were to say, "I want to hire you for $30/hour" --pro se litigant is setting the fee not the nonlawyer.
A pro se litigant is allowed to practice law so a nonlawyer being hired by a pro se litigant may assist the pro se litigant but may not advise the pro se litigant on what forms to pick. A nonlawyer may provide the best "OPTIONS" but cannot advise them on what forms to pick.
A nonlawyer may assist with research in the same way he/she assists an attorney, may draft documents but every draft must be a 1st draft, it cannot be final. If the pro se litigant wants to play lawyer on him/herself they must do all "THINKING"--a nonlawyer cannot help him/her think about the legal theories because that is practicing law.
A nonlawyer find the rules but cannot interpret the rules for the pro se litigant because that is part of the thinking.
A nonlawyer may not represent him in a court of law and may not negotiate a settlement for the pro se litigant. However, just like a nonlawyer may help a lawyer prepare for trial, so too they may help the pro se litigant prepare for trial. But the nonlawyer may not set the fee.
And in Colorado, if you don't have a license to practice law then I would not recommend you assist the public. If this is your goal, move to California where the laws are more liberal and your able to provide such services.
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