BILL NUMBER: AB 590INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Feuer FEBRUARY 25, 2009 An act to add Article 9.6 (commencing with Section 6159.5) to Chapter 4 of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to the practice of law. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 590, as introduced, Feuer. Legal aid. Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. Existing law provides that it is the duty of an attorney to, among other things, never reject, for any consideration personal to himself or herself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. Existing law provides that a lawyer may fulfill his or her ethical commitment to provide pro bono services, in part, by providing financial support to organizations providing free legal services to persons of limited means. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to expand the availability of legal counsel in critical civil matters through locally controlled pilot programs designed to test and evaluate new methods for the fair and cost-efficient resolution of legal disputes, and the comprehensive enforcement of vital legal rights, with respect to basic human needs. The bill would state the additional intent of the Legislature to encourage the legal profession to make further efforts to meet its professional responsibilities and other obligations by providing pro bono legal services and financial support of nonprofit legal organizations that provide free legal services to underserved communities. This bill would prohibit a person or organization that is not a specified type of legal aid organization, as defined, from using the term "legal aid," or any confusingly similar name in any firm name, trade name, fictitious business name, or other designation, or on any advertisement, letterhead, business card, or sign. The bill additionally would prohibit any person from charging a fee for any legal form or other document created by a legal aid organization, a court, or other public agency that is available to the public without charge, or from charging a fee to assist in the provision of self-help services that are provided without charge by a court or legal aid organization. The bill would subject a person or organization that violates these prohibitions to specified civil liability. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to expand the availability of legal counsel in critical civil matters through locally controlled pilot programs designed to test and evaluate new methods for the fair and cost-efficient resolution of legal disputes, and the comprehensive enforcement of vital legal rights, with respect to basic human needs. These pilot programs shall be implemented without additional allocations from or expenditures by the state General Fund. The pilot programs should be designed to guard against the involuntary waiver of those rights or their disposition by default, particularly by indigent parties, including the elderly and people with disabilities. These pilot programs should be designed to address the substantial inequities in timely and effective access to justice that often give rise to an undue risk of erroneous decision because of the nature and complexity of the law and the proceeding or disparities between the parties in education, sophistication, language proficiency, and legal representation or access to self-help or alternative dispute resolution services. The Legislature further recognizes that there are significant social and governmental costs of depriving such parties of those legal rights, and that these costs may be avoided by providing the assistance of counsel where parties have a reasonable possibility of achieving a favorable outcome. SEC. 2. In light of the large and ongoing justice gap between the legal needs of low-income Californians and the legal resources available to meet those needs, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage the legal profession to make further efforts meet its professional responsibilities and other obligations by providing pro bono legal services and financial support of nonprofit legal organizations that provide free legal services to underserved communities. SEC. 3. Article 9.6 (commencing with Section 6159.5) is added to Chapter 4 of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code, to read: Article 9.6. Legal Aid Organizations 6159.5. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following: (a) Legal aid programs provide a valuable service to the public by providing free legal services to the poor. (b) Private, for-profit organizations that have no lawyers have been using the name "legal aid" in order to obtain business from people who believe they are obtaining services from a nonprofit legal aid organization. (c) Public opinion research has shown that the term "legal aid" is commonly understood by the public to mean free legal assistance for the poor. (d) Members of the public seeking free legal assistance are often referred by telephone and other directory assistance information providers to for-profit organizations that charge a fee for their services, and there are a large number of listings in many telephone directories for "legal aid" that are not nonprofit but are actually for-profit organizations. (e) The Los Angeles Superior Court has held that there is a common law trademark on the name "legal aid," which means legal services for the poor provided by a nonprofit organization. (f) The public will be benefited if for-profit organizations are prohibited from using the term "legal aid," in order to avoid confusion. 6159.51. For purposes of this article, "legal aid organization" means a nonprofit organization that provides civil legal services for the poor without charge. 6159.52. (a) It is unlawful for any person or organization to use the term "legal aid," "legal aide," or any confusingly similar name in any firm name, trade name, fictitious business name, or any other designation, or on any advertisement, letterhead, business card, or sign, unless the person or organization is a legal aid organization subject to fair use principles for nominative, descriptive, or noncommercial use. (b) It is unlawful for any person to sell or charge a fee for any legal form or other document created by a legal aid organization or by a court or other public agency of the state regarding or for use in a court action or proceeding if the form or other document is available to the public without charge from the legal aid organization, court, or other public agency. (c) It is unlawful for any person for a fee to assist or offer to assist in the provision of self-help services that are provided without charge by a court or legal aid organization. 6159.53. (a) Any consumer injured by a violation of Section 6159.52 may file a complaint and seek injunctive relief, restitution, and damages in the superior court of any county in which the defendant maintains an office, advertises, or is listed in a telephone directory. (b) A person who violates Section 6159.52 shall be subject to an injunction against further violation of Section 6159.52 by any legal aid organization that maintains an office in any county in which the defendant maintains an office, advertises, or is listed in a telephone directory. In an action under this subdivision, it is not necessary to allege or prove actual damage to the plaintiff, and irreparable harm and interim harm to the plaintiff shall be presumed. (c) Reasonable attorney's fees shall be awarded to the prevailing plaintiff in any action under this section.