Legal Question in Personal Injury in Texas
I am interested in alternative paths to the practice of law. I live in texas, and
I am interested in personal injury law. Is there an alternative path other than
law school
1 Answer from Attorneys
No. Any form of "practicing law" (no matter what you might call it) without a law license issued by the State of Texas is illegal and is subject to prosecution for the crime of "unauthorized practice of law." This law is for the protection of the public. Obtaining a law license is predicated first on obtaining a law degree from an accredited law school and second on successfully passing the bar exam (a two-day, all-day, extremely intensive and comprehensive examination that only about 25% pass the first time). And only those who hold a law license have the requisite knowledge and training to serve the public as a practitioner of the law. Just as I could not open an office and begin performing brain surgeries without being prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license, so, too, would you be prosecuted for practicing "personal injury law" (or any other kind of law) without a law license. If you really want to do what lawyers do, do it the right way and become one legitimately. (And if you know of anyone practicing law without a license--including and especially all of these illegal "runners" who solicit cases for sleezy, unscrupulous ambulance chasers, turn them over to your local D. A. for prosecution.)