State Bar Proposes ‘Preventive Law’

This year, 1990, has been declared “The Year of Preventive Law” by the State Bar of California.

What is preventive law?

A bar committee proposal contains one reference that helps explain the concept: “Both lawyers and the public need to be more aware of how lawyers can help people minimize their legal risks and maximize their legal rights before litigation is even contemplated.

“The lawyer as planner, negotiator, facilitator, and architect of the client’s legal affairs are important non-adversarial roles frequently overlooked. . . . Preventive lawyering will result in keeping a client out of disputes that would otherwise lead to litigation. In short, preventive law works to keep clients in good legal health.”

Lawyers without litigation; sounds pretty good to me.

As part of its new “Legal Health” campaign, the State Bar is focusing its efforts on its free consumer education pamphlets. These pamphlets cover a wide variety of topics, and more are being developed on such subjects as legal rights when you turn 18, written fee agreements, and legal health. A legal self-help checklist is also in the works.

The concept of preventive law has been around since at least 1950, when Louis M. Brown, a prominent local lawyer, wrote a book about it. But the idea had a tough time being accepted by the legal Establishment.

In recent years, however, as the public esteem of lawyers has declined, lawyers have begun to recognize the need to provide consumer assistance and explanation of legal issues, and in so doing, help their own tattered image. Lawyers don’t want to be seen only as “hired guns” any more.

Brown once developed some basic rules of legal health that bear repeating:

* Read before you sign.

* Open and read your mail.

* If you don’t understand a document, ask for an explanation.

* Make and keep a memo of important conversations, especially conversations that concern money or property.

* You can assure evidence of mailing by sending something via certified mail through the post office and obtaining a receipt of mailing. Keep the receipt.

Don’t neglect notices and demands. Before you neglect a notice or demand, consider the consequences.

* If you pay rent by cash, get and keep a receipt.

These to-the-point rules are easy to understand and almost obvious but definitely worth following. Each of these tips provides a way to keep you from getting into legal trouble.

Of course, they don’t answer complex legal problems or prevent you from getting kicked out of your apartment if your landlord is seeking to evict you in court. But it’s refreshing to learn that the legal Establishment has recognized the importance of providing the public with basic legal and consumer information along these lines.