Need a Lawyer? There's an (Unauthorized) App for That

• Date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Kelso L. Anderson

Need a Lawyer? There’s an

(Unauthorized) App for That

service helping drivers hire

lawyers to ght trafc tick-

ets amounts to the unau-

thorized practice of law,

according to at least

one state supreme court. But ABA

Litigation Section leaders have mixed

opinions as to whether such a service

actually involves the practice of law

and further reason that recent trends

favor broader consumer accessibility to

legal services outside of traditional

law rms.

App-Based Legal Assistance

In Florida Bar v. TIKD Services,

LLC, the defendants, a Florida-

based limited liability company

and its CEO, operated a website

and mobile application that

provided assistance to

drivers who received traf-

c tickets. A driver could

create an account on

the defendants’ website,

agree to the defendants’

terms of service, and

upload a picture of

his or her ticket. The

defendants would

review the ticket and

determine whether

they should pro-

vide any services

to the driver.

The terms of

service included

authorization for

the defendants to

hire and pay for

counsel on a at-fee

basis regardless

of the outcome

of a case. If the

defendants

accepted the

ticket, they

would charge

the driver

a percent-

age of the

ticket’s

BY KELSO L . ANDERSON, LITIGATION NEWS ASSOCIATE EDITOR

value and send the driver’s information

to a licensed attorney with whom the

defendants contracted to provide trafc

ticket defense to their customers. Drivers

could reject an attorney’s representa-

tion, however, and vice versa. If a driver

chose to accept representation, the attor-

ney would communicate directly with

the driver and handle all aspects of the

driver’s defense.

The defendants paid all fees associ-

ated with defending the ticket, includ-

ing court costs and nes assessed. The

defendants did not guarantee a favor-

able result for drivers and provided a

full refund if points were levied against

a driver’s license.

What Constitutes the

Unauthor ized Practice of L aw?

On the foregoing facts, the Florida

Bar sought to enjoin the defendants

from engaging in what it deemed

was the unauthorized practice of law.

According to the bar, the defendant

company used its website and adver-

tisements to represent itself to the pub-

lic as qualied to provide legal services.

A referee was appointed to consider the

bar’s petition and concluded that, pur-

suant to Florida Bar Rules 4-1.8(f) and

4-5.4(d)—which govern third-party

payment of attorney fees—the defen-

dants were not engaged in the unau-

thorized practice of law. Therefore, the

referee granted summary judgment in

favor of the defendants.

The Florida Supreme Court

reversed on appeal. Quoting

the state constitution for its

authority to “regulate . . . the

practice of law . . . [,]” the

court further cited its own

precedent for the proposi-

tion that it may dene “what

constitutes the practice of law.”

Next, in dicta, the court

observed that conduct

amounting to the prac-

tice of law changes as

business and society

changes. Citing its

own precedent from

State ex. rel Florida

Bar v. Sperry, the

court explained

that if the “giv-

ing of advice

and counsel

and the per-

formance

of services

in legal

matters

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Published in Litigation News Volume 47, Number 3, Spring 2022. © 2022 b y the American Bar Ass ociation. Reproduc ed with permission. A ll rights reserv ed. This information or an y portion there of may not be copied or dis seminated in any

form or by any means or sto red in an electronic da tabase or retrieval sy stem without the ex press writt en consent of the Amer ican Bar Associatio n.

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