Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Comment to the  South Carolina Supreme Court Regarding
8 pages
English

Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Comment to the South Carolina Supreme Court Regarding

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8 pages
English
Le téléchargement nécessite un accès à la bibliothèque YouScribe
Tout savoir sur nos offres

Description

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAFEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEWashington, DC 20580 Washington, DC 20530April 15, 2008By email and first class mailThe Honorable Daniel E. ShearouseClerk of CourtSupreme Court of South CarolinaP.O. Box 11330Columbia, SC 29211Re: Proposed Guidelines for Residential and Commercial Real Estate ClosingsDear Mr. Shearouse: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice are pleased torespond to the South Carolina Supreme Court’s request for comments on the ProposedGuidelines for Residential and Commercial Real Estate Closings that delineate the scope of the1practice of law as it relates to the transfer of real property. This Court has observed that2defining what constitutes the practice of law should be guided by consumers’ interests. TheJustice Department and the FTC agree: we believe that consumers receive the greatest benefitwhen non-attorneys compete with attorneys except in circumstances where specialized legalknowledge and training has been demonstrated to be necessary to protect the interests of1 The notice and proposed guidelines are available at http://www.sccourts.org/whatsnew/displayW hatsNew.cfm?indexId=436. The proposed guidelines delineate seven tasks related to residential and commercial real estatetransactions that must be performed by an attorney licensed to practice in South Carolina, including performing alltitle work, preparing deeds, overseeing the drafting of documents ...

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April 15, 2008
By email and first class mail
The Honorable Daniel E. Shearouse
Clerk of Court
Supreme Court of South Carolina
P.O. Box 11330
Columbia, SC
29211
Re:
Proposed Guidelines for Residential and Commercial Real Estate Closings
Dear Mr. Shearouse:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice are pleased to
respond to the South Carolina Supreme Court’s request for comments on the Proposed
Guidelines for Residential and Commercial Real Estate Closings that delineate the scope of the
practice of law as it relates to the transfer of real property.
This Court has observed that
1
defining what constitutes the practice of law should be guided by consumers’ interests.
The
2
Justice Department and the FTC agree: we believe that consumers receive the greatest benefit
when non-attorneys compete with attorneys except in circumstances where specialized legal
knowledge and training has been demonstrated to be necessary to protect the interests of
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2
consumers.
As this Court grapples with the important issue of what should constitute the
3
practice of law in the context of commercial and residential real estate transactions, we
respectfully suggest that it may wish to take note of the benefits consumers in other states have
received from competition and consider relaxing current restraints on competition between
attorneys and non-attorneys in this area, which likely will benefit South Carolina consumers.
4
A small minority of states (including South Carolina) restrict non-attorneys from
providing services related to real estate transactions, such as title searching, title abstracting, title
opinions, preparing deeds and mortgages, supervising closings, and disbursing funds.
The
5
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