HALT - Moving Forward with Alternative Legal Services

ALDAP received a request to meet with Tom Gordon, Senior Counsel and Policy Director for HALT (Help Abolish Legal Tyranny), to discuss the delivery of non-attorney, self-help legal services to consumers. (To be clear, there has been some confusion among our membership regarding HALT's proposed name change to CLEAR in 2009; that name change did not take place. HALT is HALT, and HALT is here to stay.)

Gordon and ALDAP's Executive Committee met last Friday to discuss a cooperative effort to enhance consumer protections in California and to bring appropriate business model practices to the attention of other states which soon will follow California's example in bringing access to justice to consumers. ALDAP is a step ahead, having developed the ALDAP AdvantageTM - a business practice model that allows for consumer education while guaranteeing absolute compliance with the statutes governing legal document preparers. We discussed how ALDAP's LDA Roundtable events enable the association to present this practice model, which focuses on consumer protections and professional integrity, throughout the state at no cost to attendees.

ALDAP looks forward to working with other legal professionals to further the Access to Justice Movement on behalf of all consumers.