442
Contra Costa County Bar Association, “Limited Representation”: LRS Panel Description, at: http://www.unbundledlaw.org/program%20Profiles/CC_LRS.html (June 25, 2003).
443 Id.
Mecklenburg County provides another example of how local bar, judicial,and
administrative leaders can work together to support limited-service representation.444 Among the results are a self-help center and interrelated limited-service lawyer referral panel, and a local rule that authorizes a lawyer to provide limited representation to clients in litigation, and to withdraw from the case when the lawyer has provided the promised service to the client.
In 1999, in response to a growing number of pro se litigants, the 26th Judicial District in Mecklenburg County established a “SelfServe Center”, modeled after Maricopa County’s
pioneering program. The Honorable Jane V. Halper and the Trial Court Administrator of the 26th Judicial District, Todd Nuccio, were among leaders in this effort. The Trial Court
Administrator's Office operates the program today, and the Administrative Office of the Courts primarily funds it. The State’s IOLTA program also has funded special projects, including the production of videotapes and establishment of a twice-monthly instructional “clinic” for groups of similarly-situated domestic litigants. A local public interest law firm, the McDowell Street Center for Family Law, teaches these clinics on a virtually pro bono basis.445
Currently, the Center provides litigants in domestic relations cases with simplified pleading forms, instructions on how to use them, a system flow chart, and an informational videotape. The Center recently added self-help materials in name-change, small claim, and limited driving privilege matters as well. Litigants learn of the Center through various means, including flyers, brochures, and referrals from family members or friends who have used its services.
444
See generally Unbundled Legal Services, Profile: “Unbundled” Legal Services Attorney Panel, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, at: www.unbundledlaw.org/states/ nc_profile.html (June 25, 2003).
445
The Center has developed a panel of lawyers who provide limited-service representation to clients. The attorneys who participate on the panel charge a variety of fees for the limited services they provide, including fees based on their regular hourly rates, reduced fees, and, occasionally, flat fees. In early 2003, there were about 10 panel attorneys and the number was growing. The Center plans to work with the Mecklenburg County Bar to develop a program that will help to recruit and train newly licensed attorneys to provide limited representation.
The panel attorneys offer three general types of limited services to clients: 1) legal advice, 2) assistance with document preparation, and 3) limited representation in court. Lawyers provide limited representation on disputed issues (often involving child custody and property disposition) that the clients do not resolve through mandatory mediation; help litigants to
complete the pleading forms; prepare customized pleadings and memoranda when the forms are not sufficient; and consult with clients on a variety of case-related matters.
On May 24, 2002, the Mecklenburg Bar Association and the 26th Judicial District SelfServe Center conducted a three-hour, limited-service CLE course, and they are considering making this an annual event.446
To support limited representation, the 26th Judicial District adopted the following local rule:
Lawyers are permitted to provide limited scope “unbundled” services to pro se litigants. They may give legal advice and drafting assistance, including filling out legal forms and providing subpoenas, without appearing as counsel of record. They may advise regarding strategy, tactics and techniques of litigation.
Lawyers who undertake such a role should be aware that an attorney-client relationship would generally be formed under such circumstances, and the Rules of Professional Conduct, particularly those concerning confidentiality and conflict of interest, would apply. The lawyer must, of course, act competently in offering
446
Megan Anderson, “Unbundled- A New Way to Practice?” CLE Manuscript 2002 (May 24, 2002) at http://www.unbundledlaw.org/States/Megans%20summary.htm (June 25, 2003).
advice and assistance; for example, the lawyer should caution the client against undertaking a matter too difficult for the client to handle pro se.
Lawyers are encouraged to put each agreement for unbundled services in writing, obtain the client’s signature, and include the signed agreement in the court file.
Should the lawyer enter a limited appearance, s/he should be careful to withdraw in a manner that makes it clear to the court, court personnel and other counsel that s/he is no longer in the case. Telephone calls inquiring about the lawyer’s status in the case should be promptly returned, to avoid an unwelcome summons to court.447
In late 2002, the North Carolina State Bar Association created a Pro SeTask Force. It is co-chaired by Judge Anne Salisbury and Victor Boone, both of Raleigh, and is charged with studying “ways and means to assist pro selitigants,” including through development of “[u]nbundled legal services,” a “statewide system” of assistance, and other “[m]ethods of bringing prospective clients and lawyers together on an affordable basis.”448
447
N.C. 26TH JUD. DIST., FAM. CT. DIV., LOC. DOM. CASE R. 23.
448
See North Carolina Bar Association’s Pro Bono Project, 16 PRO BONO CONNECTION 1
availableat: http://www.ncbar.org/legal_prof/probono/connection/16-1/connection.asp (last visited June 25, 2003). The State Bar Association also has appointed a “Committee to Review the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission's Report”, which has recommended adoption of the ABA’s proposed Rule 6.5 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, discussed infra Chapter 9(D). See Alice Neece Mine, Overview of the Proposed Revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct (2001), at http://www.ncbar.com/home/overview.asp (last visited June 25, 2003).