Under Rule 5.7, law-related services may be provided by a nonlawyer if they are not prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and are related to legal services. Which statement is accurate?

Under Rule 5.7, law-related services may be provided by a nonlawyer if they are not prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and are related to legal services. Which statement is accurate?

• A. They must always be provided as legal services.
• B. They may be provided by a nonlawyer if they are not prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and are related to legal services.
• C. They must be provided only by the lawyer personally.
• D. They are never allowed to be provided by nonlawyers.

Answer: (B)

Rule 5.7 lets lawyers use nonlawyer staff to provide law-related services, as long as those services would not themselves be the practice of law and are connected to legal services. In practice, this means tasks like document support, research, or other administrative or substantive help that assists with legal work can be handled by a nonlawyer, provided the activity isn’t prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and the work remains related to the lawyer’s legal services. The lawyer remains responsible for the quality of the work, for supervising the nonlawyer, and for making sure clients understand that these services do not substitute for legal advice or the practice of law. That’s why the accurate statement is that law-related services may be provided by a nonlawyer if they are not prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and are related to legal services. The other options imply that the lawyer must perform everything personally, or that nonlawyers can never help, or that these services must always be the full legal service, which conflicts with Rule 5.7’s allowance for nonlawyer involvement in related, non-UPL tasks.

Rule 5.7 lets lawyers use nonlawyer staff to provide law-related services, as long as those services would not themselves be the practice of law and are connected to legal services. In practice, this means tasks like document support, research, or other administrative or substantive help that assists with legal work can be handled by a nonlawyer, provided the activity isn’t prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and the work remains related to the lawyer’s legal services. The lawyer remains responsible for the quality of the work, for supervising the nonlawyer, and for making sure clients understand that these services do not substitute for legal advice or the practice of law. That’s why the accurate statement is that law-related services may be provided by a nonlawyer if they are not prohibited as unauthorized practice of law and are related to legal services. The other options imply that the lawyer must perform everything personally, or that nonlawyers can never help, or that these services must always be the full legal service, which conflicts with Rule 5.7’s allowance for nonlawyer involvement in related, non-UPL tasks.