LEGALZOOM SUES NORTH CAROLINA BAR FOR ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS – In case you missed it, LegalZoom has sued the North Carolina Bar for antitrust violations.  Here’s the WSJ lawblog post and a copy of the complaint.  This is on top of LegalZoom’s ongoing North Carolina fight over whether online legal services are the unauthorized practice of law.  LegalZoom has had some success in South Carolina on this front and with more of a mixed result in Missouri.  The bottom line is that LegalZoom is still operating in all fifty states, which is how I count wins and losses in this sort of game.

An antitrust suit is a horse of a different color, however, since it challenges the very structure of American lawyer regulation.  S**t just got real.  In my book I talk a bunch about what a tight spot the ABA and state bars find themselves in.  They could try to shut down LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer through new regulations or even prosecution for the unauthorized practice of law, but the public outcry would be LOUD and the downside risk – an antitrust suit or other attempts to strip lawyers of self-regulation – is very real.  Bar associations have been cursed to live in interesting times indeed.