Indiana Supreme Court follows Utah's example and approves funding for regulatory sandbox program to allow alternative business structures

 Earlier this month, the Indiana Supreme Court approved funding for a regulatory sandbox program to develop alternative legal services models.  The Court’s order is based on a recommendation from the Commission on Indiana’s Legal Future which the Indiana Supreme Court had created in April 2024.

The Commission recommended that Indiana’s regulatory sandbox be structured like Utah’s Office of Legal Services Innovation (Innovation Office). Utah’s Innovation Office was established by the Utah Supreme Court in 2020 to ensure consumers have access to modern and affordable legal services in a competitive marketplace.

New Jersey to allow disbarred lawyers to apply for reinstatement after five years

What is the worst type of (or highest level of) discipline?   If you thought "disbarment" you would be wrong.  The correct answer is permanent disbarment, because in most jurisdictions disbarred lawyers can be reinstated after a period of time.  

And last week, New Jersey decided to join that majority of jurisdictions.  As reported in the ABA Journal, according to a recent order of the state's supreme court "New Jersey lawyers who are disbarred will in most cases be allowed to apply for reinstatement after five years."  New Jersey now joins 41 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing disbarred attorneys to seek readmission. 

Having said that, the NJ supreme court retained the authority to impose permanent disbarment in future egregious cases and to block successive applications for reinstatement for particular attorneys on a case by case basis.  

How not to practice law: store 1000 pounds of marijuana In your law office

 Do I need to explain?  I hope not.  For more on the story, go here and here.

Michael Kennedy, Vermont Bar Counsel, has a comment on the story here.

Illinois Commission on Professionalism Releases Study on Bullying in the Legal Profession

The Illinois Supreme Court's Commission on Professionalism has released a study on bullying within the profession.  Not surprisingly (since the study is about bullying), the study concludes that bullying disproportionately affects female attorneys, attorneys with disabilities, attorneys of color, younger attorneys, and LGBTQ+ attorneys.

Illinois Lawyer Now has a short summary of the study here, and you can read the full study here.

DoNotPay now has to pay because of its claims about its non-existent AI lawyer

 Do you remember last year's stories about "DoNotPay," a company that claimed to have the "world's first robot lawyer"?   In case you don't, this was a company that claimed to offer legal services using a "robot lawyer" (aka "AI technology).  It made a lot of claims about the services it could provide, only it was revealed to be all smoke and mirrors.  I reported on the story throughout 2023 on  January 29, February 14, February 16, March 4, March 10, and March 17.

The story has made it back to the headlines of the week because on Wednesday, the FTC announced actions taken against five different companies making misleading claims about AI, including DoNotPay.  

In reply, DoNotPay as agreed to pay $193,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations.  Besides paying the $193,000, DoNotPay agreed to refrain from making claims about its ability to substitute for legal services without evidence to support them.  

TechDirt has more details on this latest chapter on the DoNotPay saga here.  The ABA Journal has more on the settlement here.