Examples of unauthorized practice of law
The UPL Policy Committee gathered complaints from lawyers around the state as to particular instances of UPL that have been harmful to the public, which was one of the issues the Wisconsin Supreme Court raised when it rejected a 2003 State Bar petition. The petition offers dozens of examples of instances of Wisconsin consumers being hurt when people without proper training or oversight attempt to practice law. These include:
- an individual who collected substantial fees from the families of incarcerated convicts for wholly ineffective legal documents that purportedly would result in the prisoner's early release;
- immigration advisors who provide to aliens residing in Wisconsin incomplete and improper legal advice that exposed them to the loss of legal jobs and potential deportation;
- a surveyor who drafted a document that erroneously created an unauthorized easement and encumbrance that imposed substantial costs on a third party; and
- an individual who charged extremely high fees for canned revocable trusts that failed to achieve a primary goal of such an arrangement - avoiding probate.