Daily Archives: March 20, 2015

Who says you need a law degree to practice law?

Washington Post /Opinions

Michelle Cummings never went to law school. Her formal college education ended in 1998, with a paralegal studies degree from Highline Community College in Des Moines, Wash. But this summer, Cummings could start taking on legal clients who need help filing for divorce or child custody. Like a fully licensed attorney, she’ll be able to open an office and set her own fees.

Cummings is part of Washington state’s ambitious experiment to revolutionize access to legal services, particularly among the poor. In the United States, 80 to 90 percent of low-income people with civil legal problems never receive help from a lawyer. This means that domestic violence victims might file for a restraining order alone. Couples who want to divorce might do it without counsel. In some states, parents who have lost custody of their children might fight that decision without any guidance.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/closing-the-justice-gap/2015/03/13/a5f576c8-c754-11e4-aa1a-86135599fb0f_story.html

Even the public face of the legal profession, the 400,000-member American Bar Association, is beginning to acknowledge that the crisis is too big for lawyers to solve alone. In a January 2014 report, an ABA task force on the future of legal education called on states to license “persons other than holders of a JD to deliver limited legal services.” Among the panel’s 28 members were two key organizers of Washington’s program.

“We need to take a leaf from the medical profession, which has long recognized that people with health problems can be helped by a range of assistance providers with far less training than licensed physicians,” New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said in his 2014 state of the judiciary report. “We all accept that. Why not the same in the law?”

read full story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/closing-the-justice-gap/2015/03/13/a5f576c8-c754-11e4-aa1a-86135599fb0f_story.html

Governor Appoints DiStefano to Van Buren County Probate Court

Gov. Rick Snyder appointed David J. DiStefano to the Van Buren County Probate Court. DiStefano has most recently worked as a general practitioner focused on probate work in Van Buren County. He has also served as Bangor city attorney from 1987 to 2014 and as general counsel for multiple companies. He is a member of the Van Buren County Economic Development Corp. board of directors and the Van Buren County Restorative Justice Committee. He previously served on the Van Buren County Mental Health Board and the Bangor Public School Board. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and…

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