Minnesota Session Laws - 1991, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1991 

                        CHAPTER 299-S.F.No. 520 
           An act relating to legal services; requesting the 
          supreme court to study the feasibility of the delivery 
          of legal services by specialized legal assistants; 
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 481.02, 
          subdivision 3.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 481.02, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  [PERMITTED ACTIONS.] The provisions of this 
section shall not prohibit:  
     (1) any person from drawing, without charge, any document 
to which the person, an employer of the person, a firm of which 
the person is a member, or a corporation whose officer or 
employee the person is, is a party, except another's will or 
testamentary disposition or instrument of trust serving purposes 
similar to those of a will; 
     (2) a person from drawing a will for another in an 
emergency if the imminence of death leaves insufficient time to 
have it drawn and its execution supervised by a licensed 
attorney-at-law; 
     (3) any insurance company from causing to be defended, or 
from offering to cause to be defended through lawyers of its 
selection, the insureds in policies issued or to be issued by 
it, in accordance with the terms of the policies; 
     (4) a licensed attorney-at-law from acting for several 
common-carrier corporations or any of its subsidiaries pursuant 
to arrangement between the corporations; 
     (5) any bona fide labor organization from giving legal 
advice to its members in matters arising out of their 
employment; 
     (6) any person from conferring or cooperating with a 
licensed attorney-at-law of another in preparing any legal 
document, if the attorney is not, directly or indirectly, in the 
employ of the person or of any person, firm, or corporation 
represented by the person; 
     (7) any licensed attorney-at-law of Minnesota, who is an 
officer or employee of a corporation, from drawing, for or 
without compensation, any document to which the corporation is a 
party or in which it is interested personally or in a 
representative capacity, except wills or testamentary 
dispositions or instruments of trust serving purposes similar to 
those of a will, but any charge made for the legal work 
connected with preparing and drawing the document shall not 
exceed the amount paid to and received and retained by the 
attorney, and the attorney shall not, directly or indirectly, 
rebate the fee to or divide the fee with the corporation; 
     (8) any person or corporation from drawing, for or without 
a fee, farm or house leases, notes, mortgages, chattel 
mortgages, bills of sale, deeds, assignments, satisfactions, or 
any other conveyances except testamentary dispositions and 
instruments of trust; 
     (9) a licensed attorney-at-law of Minnesota from rendering 
to a corporation legal services to itself at the expense of one 
or more of its bona fide principal stockholders by whom the 
attorney is employed and by whom no compensation is, directly or 
indirectly, received for the services; 
     (10) any person or corporation engaged in the business of 
making collections from engaging or turning over to an 
attorney-at-law for the purpose of instituting and conducting 
suit or making proof of claim of a creditor in any case in which 
the attorney-at-law receives the entire compensation for the 
work; 
    (11) any regularly established farm journal or newspaper, 
devoted to general news, from publishing a department of legal 
questions and answers to them, made by a licensed 
attorney-at-law, if no answer is accompanied or at any time 
preceded or followed by any charge for it, any disclosure of any 
name of the maker of any answer, any recommendation of or 
reference to any one to furnish legal advice or services, or by 
any legal advice or service for the periodical or any one 
connected with it or suggested by it, directly or indirectly; 
    (12) any authorized management agent of an owner of rental 
property used for residential purposes, whether the management 
agent is a natural person, corporation, partnership, limited 
partnership, or any other business entity, from commencing, 
maintaining, conducting, or defending in its own behalf any 
action in any court in this state to recover or retain 
possession of the property, except that the provision of this 
clause does not authorize a person who is not a licensed 
attorney-at-law to conduct a jury trial or to appear before a 
district court or the court of appeals or supreme court pursuant 
to an appeal; and 
    (13) any person from commencing, maintaining, conducting, 
or defending on behalf of the plaintiff or defendant any action 
in any court of this state pursuant to the provisions of section 
566.175 or sections 566.18 to 566.33 or from commencing, 
maintaining, conducting, or defending on behalf of the plaintiff 
or defendant any action in any court of this state for the 
recovery of rental property used for residential purposes 
pursuant to the provisions of section 566.02 or 566.03, 
subdivision 1, except that the provision of this clause does not 
authorize a person who is not a licensed attorney-at-law to 
conduct a jury trial or to appear before a district court or the 
court of appeals or supreme court pursuant to an appeal, and 
provided that, except for a nonprofit corporation, a person who 
is not a licensed attorney-at-law shall not charge or collect a 
separate fee for services rendered pursuant to this clause; or 
    (14) the delivery of legal services by a specialized legal 
assistant in accordance with a specialty license issued by the 
supreme court before July 1, 1995. 
    Sec. 2.  [SUPREME COURT RULES ON SPECIALIZED LEGAL 
ASSISTANTS.] 
     The supreme court shall review the feasibility of the 
delivery of legal services by specialized legal assistants, and 
shall prepare a report for the legislature by December 1, 1993.  
In preparing the report, the supreme court should consult with 
licensed attorneys, legal assistants, representatives of the 
educational community for legal assistants, and representatives 
of advocacy groups for the economically disadvantaged.  The 
report should include at least the following: 
    (1) whether the delivery of legal services through 
specialized legal assistants is in the best interest of 
consumers of legal services; 
    (2) areas and scope of practice of specialized legal 
assistants; 
    (3) circumstances under which a specialty license will be 
required; 
    (4) qualifications for legal assistants applying for a 
specialty license; 
    (5) examination and specialty license requirements and 
fees; 
     (6) limits and conditions of practice under a specialty 
license including malpractice insurance requirements; 
    (7) continuing legal education requirements; 
    (8) rules of professional conduct and responsibility; 
    (9) procedures for filing, investigating, and resolving 
complaints and disciplinary actions against specialized legal 
assistants; and 
    (10) maintenance and classification of records relating to 
specialized legal assistants. 
    Presented to the governor May 30, 1991 
    Signed by the governor June 3, 1991, 4:20 p.m.