legal sanity
lawyering for laypeople
From LawyerNews.Com comes this announcement that the Philadelphia Bar Association will be sponsoring a course for non-lawyers who want to learn “basic information about areas of the law most likely to impact on their daily lives.” Course sessions will be held on September 21 & 28 and October 5, 12, 19 & 26. Each week, local private and public sector lawyers will speak on topics related to their area of practice, including: bankruptcy law, consumer fraud law, criminal law and procedure, defending yourself in a civil law suit, employment law, family law, immigration law, landlord/tenant law, personal injury/tort law, real estate law, wills and estate planning, and workers' compensation law. I think that educating non-lawyers about law as it plays out in everyday life is a terrific idea. Far from being a dangerous thing, a little bit of knowledge about the law helps people be more empowered and capable negotiators in their daily undertakings and makes them more savvy and participatory legal service consumers.