KNOW, the Magazine for Paralegals Spring 2014 | Page 20

So here we have a lawyer saying that it is
just fine for morally unfit people to be paralegals. And it’s not only Mr. Glass. In California,
it is quite all right for disbarred and suspended
lawyers to be paralegals.

more about what we couldn’t do – couldn’t give
legal advice, couldn’t accept clients and couldn’t set
fees. The investigator told me the practice of medicine by a physician includes diagnosis, treatment,
prescribing of medication, and the performance
of invasive procedures. As long as a “defrocked”
doctor avoided those tasks, he or she could work
as an office assistant in a clinic, or perhaps own a
supporting service company, such as an x-ray company. I asked my question about the former doctor becoming a nurse or a physician’s assistant and
he told me absolutely not. “Those professions are
licensed by the State Board as part of the Department of Consumer Affairs. It is unlikely they would
allow a known defrocked doctor to have a license.

When getting its groundbreaking paralegal
legislation through the California legislature
in 2000, the Legislative Committee of the California Alliance of Paralegal Associations ran up
against this issue. “Our original draft of the bill
specifically excluded disciplined lawyers from
the paralegal profession,” said Jon Montgomery,
a past CAPA president who was a member of
the committee.

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“However, the Senate Judiciary Committee
made us remove that language because they
felt that being a paralegal was a great way for
disbarred and suspended lawyers to be rehabilitated and earn a living until they could get their
licenses back.” As one disgusted paralegal commented after CAPA acquiesced to this demand
rather than lose the bill altogether, “When you
roll with the dogs, surely you will come up with
the fleas.”

It would be too tempting for them to start practicing medicine again.” However, it would be possible, he said, for former doctors to complete the
courses necessary to become a nurse, never reveal
the license suspension and slip by the process.

It made me wonder what happens to doctors who lose their licenses. Are they allowed
to be nurses? Physician’s assistants? I called
an investigator with the Medical Board of California, who told me that there is a whole range
of penalties for doctors who go astray. “If they
are actually convicted of a crime, their licenses
are suspended during their incarceration,” the
investigator said. “Once they get out, they rarely
get their licenses back.”
The investigator was intrigued by my efforts
to find a comparison to the legal profession. He
asked me what the definition of practicing law
was and how paralegals fit in. I told him it was

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Bingo. How can an attorney know whether the
disbarred lawyer in his employ is really performing
true paralegal duties without resisting the temptation to give out a little legal advice? Paralegals
work with trust accounts, sensitive client documents, and privileged information all of the time.
If an attorney lost his license dipping into a client
trust account, and is now a paralegal, it would be
possible for him to do it again.
I have never been a proponent of licensing paralegals, but I now see it as a possible way to finally
prevent disgraced lawyers from gracing our profession. I am interested in hearing Teri and Nancy’s
take on this issue.