You are not my lawyer -- and maybe he shouldn't be either.

February 10, 2012 12:14 PM

Legal ethics filter: I work in the computer lab at a public library in the midwest. A patron comes in semi-regularly and shows me his Florida State Bar ID as proof of identity. He is almost always doing work with legal documents, and often has clients with him. The Florida State Bar says that he has been a member for about six months, but he's ineligible to practice law in the state of Florida. Am I under any obligation to contact the Florida State Bar (or some other regulatory association), since I'm not in Florida?
posted by anonymous to law & government (29 answers total)

I don't see any reason why it should be your concern.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:19 PM on February 10 [5 favorites]

I suspect that we will need a little bit more information to answer your question helpfully. 1, What do you mean that he is a "member" of the Florida bar but is also "ineligible to practice law" there? (Does that mean that his license has been temporarily suspended?) 2, Do you have any reason to believe that he is practicing Florida law, given that he is meeting with local clients in your local state? 3, Are you asking about your legal obligations or your moral obligations? And if the former, are you a lawyer or do you otherwise have any special legal obligations toward the courts?
posted by willbaude at 12:19 PM on February 10

If he is now in the midwest, why would it matter that he can't practice law in the state of Florida? Why would you report him for his work in the midwest?

All in all, it seems a little busybody. It is no concern to you, leave it alone and mind your own business.
posted by ejazen at 12:20 PM on February 10 [5 favorites]

If you're a member of the bar, you would be ethically obligated to report a violation of the rules of ethics, I'm guessing you're not. If you could contact a mod to add this, could you explain how he's a member of the bar, but not authorized to practice law? That part doesn't really make sense to me. He's also practicing law in the midwest (apparently), not in Florida, right?. There's a lot here that could stand to be cleared up before we can be helpful.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:21 PM on February 10

Stumped by this question. As long as he's using the library in a way consistent with the the rules of the library, I have no idea why you would care what he's doing or who's he meeting with.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 12:22 PM on February 10 [29 favorites]

You don't have to be eligible to practice law in order to work with legal documents and work with clients. Think about what paralegals, legal assistants, law students, state officials, non-profit workers, real estate agents, social workers, and all kinds of activists do. They do not practice law but they still work with legal documents and clients.
posted by cairdeas at 12:26 PM on February 10 [15 favorites]

Unless there is significantly more to this story than you are explaining here, any "reporting" of this man that you would do is a clear cut violation of patron confidentiality.
posted by jessamyn at 12:26 PM on February 10 [40 favorites]

He is almost always doing work with legal documents, and often has clients with him.

There are many kinds of legal document preparation that do not require the preparer to be admitted to a bar. You have no idea what service he is selling and have no reason to believe he is defrauding his clients.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:27 PM on February 10 [5 favorites]

Am I under any obligation to contact the Florida State Bar (or some other regulatory association), since I'm not in Florida?

If the patron is practicing law, then that's the concern of the state in which the practice occurs, which sounds like it isn't Florida. If the patron is charged with the unauthorized practice of law in this non-Florida state, then the Florida state bar will be informed.

In any case, if you are not an attorney, then you the rules of attorney ethics do not apply to you. If you are an attorney, then your state bar should have an ethics hotline or other informal ethics opinion service that you can contact if you are unsure of what to do.

I assume, however, that you are not an attorney. In that case, is there some other rule that applies, such as patron confidentiality or the library's policies? If there is no rule, then you'll have to fall on your own personal judgment. Personally I would only intervene if I knew that a) he was defrauding his clients or b) was definitely committing the unauthorized practice of law (i.e. if I knew he was not licensed in that state and that what he was doing constituted the practice of law).
posted by jedicus at 12:37 PM on February 10

Wait, how do you know he's ineligible? If you're checking online, that's severely creepy.
posted by desjardins at 12:39 PM on February 10 [13 favorites]

You have no idea what he's doing and you have no idea whether he's practicing law. Please leave him alone and do not report him to anyone, if all you know is what you've told us.
posted by jayder at 12:41 PM on February 10 [2 favorites]

Data point: reporting him would be antithetical to the code of ethics of the American Library Association. Since you're working in a public library, I think you should respect that code, whose bias is towards the provision of library materials to all, and protecting the confidentiality of those who use them.
posted by Wordwoman at 1:00 PM on February 10 [21 favorites]

Since you're working in a public library, I think you should respect that code, whose bias is towards the provision of library materials to all, and protecting the confidentiality of those who use them.

Presumably not if they're using the materials to commit a crime within the library itself, but so far I have not seen evidence from the Asker that the patron is, in fact, committing the unauthorized practice of law, which may not even be a crime in that jurisdiction.
posted by jedicus at 1:03 PM on February 10

Here are some words for your consideration, from a federal judge: "Public officials do not have a free-floating obligation to put things to rights, disregarding rules . . . along the way."
posted by chinston at 1:06 PM on February 10 [4 favorites]

You have an ethical obligation to stay out of it. Not your concern. at all.
posted by sarahnicolesays at 1:28 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

You asked for valid ID, and he is showing you valid ID. That is the extent of your obligation.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:38 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

Just off the top of my head I would say he could be working as a certified paralegal - which he might have been before law school - or he could be a notary in your state.

Or perhaps he's showing you his FL bar ID because the ones in your state don't have pictures. Another vote here for inappropriately nosy/creepy/stalkerish behavior on your part.
posted by phearlez at 2:01 PM on February 10 [2 favorites]

If you had reason to believe he was committing a crime, you would have a duty to report it. Right now you have vague suspicions, and there are plausible innocent explanations for everything you've seen. You can't go all Nancy Drew on every shifty-eyed guy who walks into the library.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:30 PM on February 10

[Folks, please answer the question being asked. Thanks.]
posted by jessamyn at 2:40 PM on February 10

As a library worker, your ethical obligation is to protect patron privacy.
posted by box at 3:26 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

(That said, though, my own public library system has a policy that prohibits library patrons from using the library as a de facto place of business, legal (in both senses of the word) or otherwise.

It would be worthwhile, I think, to discuss this situation with your supervisor or a library administrator.)
posted by box at 3:28 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

I can't even begin to see why you would think you need to report this to someone. He is using an ID card to prove his identity to you. That is kosher, whether he's allowed to practice law in Florida or not.
posted by Mr. Justice at 3:31 PM on February 10

He's conducting his legal business (whether it involves the lawful or unlawful practice of law or not) from a public library. I'd say his clients are sufficiently on notice that this guy may not be a phenomenally respected and successful member of the bar. It is up to you to enforce library rules. His clients have plenty of opportunity to check the qualifications and references of the professional they have engaged and to determine his fitness for the job he is performing.
posted by zachlipton at 4:43 PM on February 10

If you're a member of the bar, you would be ethically obligated to report a violation of the rules of ethics ...

We can't know this, without knowing the state this is occurring in.

In some states, reporting of unethical conduct by attorneys is not mandatory, even if it is an attorney who becomes aware of it. So it is not altogether clear that you would be obligated to report it even if you were an attorney, and you're certainly not obligated to report it if you're not an attorney. And that's assuming that there's any misconduct going on, which you have no reason to believe.
posted by jayder at 5:06 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

Also, if this is all taking place in the computer lab of the library, and the computer lab is the area of the library where you work, it seems a little unkosher that you even know he's working on legal documents -- it seems like one would have to be looking over his shoulder at his screen or reading his print-outs to know about that.
posted by cairdeas at 5:13 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

You don't have a duty to report because you're not a member of the bar. And you don't have a duty to report because you don't know that he is violating ethics rules.
posted by J. Wilson at 5:42 PM on February 10

As others have mentioned, you're under no obligation to report this person.
But I don't see the harm in envisioning a rich backstory for this guy if it makes your day more interesting :)
posted by itheearl at 5:53 PM on February 10

It's really really plausible that he happens to have this nice photo ID bar card from Florida, where his license is inactive for some reason, and he's also actively licensed in another state but it's not a useful ID. For instance, Illinois ARDC cards are just a piece of paper with a name and number. Lots of lawyers are licensed in multiple jurisdictions. Give him the benefit of the doubt.
posted by steinwald at 7:15 PM on February 10 [3 favorites]

I am a library director. If one of my staff came up to me with this concern, I'd tell them that, unless the patron is breaking a library rule, we do not interfere. We need to respect patron privacy first and foremost.

However, if your library has a rule against using it as a workspace (some do, some don't, I've worked in both), I would appreciate the heads-up. I would have a talk with this person about that particular issue - meeting with his clients at the library - but not say anything about the Florida Bar situation.
posted by Elly Vortex at 3:32 PM on February 12