William O. Douglas

“ If he neither solicits nor obtains a fee for his services, why should he not be free to act? Full-fledged representation in a battle before a court or agency requires professional skills that laymen lack; and therefore the client suffers, perhaps grievously, if he is not represented by a lawyer. But in the intermediate zone where the local pastor, the social worker, or best friend [8] commonly operates, is there not room for accommodation? ”

“ In making an initial determination of an applicant's eligibility, the public assistance worker must complete the applicant's financial statement. 'Every question, or nearly every question, on the financial statement, is a legal question. When the social worker advises, or even discusses the questions or answers, he may very likely be giving legal advice.' The private social worker who advises an applicant that he should apply, how to apply, what to answer and how to appeal if the application is rejected is also giving 'legal' advice. ”

“ Yet statutes with the broad sweep of the Arizona provision now before this Court would appear to have the potential to 'freeze out' the imaginative new attempts to assist indigents realize equal justice, merely because lay persons participate. ”

“ The so-called 'legal' problem of the poor is often an unidentified strand in a complex of social economic, psychological, and psychiatric problems. Identification of the 'legal' problem at times is for the expert. ”

“ These new and flexible approaches to giving legal aid to the poor recognize that the problems of indigents-although of the type for which an attorney has traditionally been consulted-are too immense to be solved solely by members of the bar. The supply of lawyer manpower is not nearby large enough. [5] But the necessary involvement of lay persons in these programs threatens their success. ”

“ Some States, aware of the acute shortage of lawyers to help the indigent, have utilized the abilities of qualified law students to advise indigents and even to represent them in court in limited circumstances. ”

“ They suffer discrimination in housing and employment, are victimized by shady consumer sales practices, evicted from their homes at the whim of the landlord, denied welfare payments, and endure domestic strife without hope of the legal remedies of divorce, maintenance, or child custody decrees. ”

“ Appellant contends that this statute suffers from overbreadth and vagueness and is unconstitutional on its face because it interferes with the rights of the destitute and ignorant-those who cannot acquire the services of counsel-to obtain redress under the law for wrongs done to them. He also alleges the statute is unconstitutional as applied here, where appellant acted on behalf of the indigent prisoner only after exhaustive efforts to obtain appointed counsel. Appellant is no stranger to the law. He graduated from an unaccredited law school but was refused admission to the Arizona Bar. ”

“ But even a 'lay' person can often perform that function and mark the path that leads to the school board, the school principal, the welfare agency, the Veterans Administration, the police review board, or the urban renewal agency. ”

“ Certainly the States have a strong interest in preventing legally untrained shysters who pose as attorneys from milking the public for pecuniary gain. Cf. NAACP v. Button, at 441, 83 S.Ct. 328. But it is arguable whether this policy should support a prohibition against charitable efforts of nonlawyers to help the poor. ”