(a) Only such persons as are regularly licensed have authority to practice law.
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Terms Used In Alabama Code 34-3-6

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
  • property: includes both real and personal property. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • United States: includes the territories thereof and the District of Columbia. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(b) For the purposes of this chapter, the practice of law is defined as follows:

Whoever,

(1) In a representative capacity appears as an advocate or draws papers, pleadings, or documents, or performs any act in connection with proceedings pending or prospective before a court or a body, board, committee, commission, or officer constituted by law or having authority to take evidence in or settle or determine controversies in the exercise of the judicial power of the state or any subdivision thereof; or
(2) For a consideration, reward, or pecuniary benefit, present or anticipated, direct or indirect, advises or counsels another as to secular law, or draws or procures or assists in the drawing of a paper, document, or instrument affecting or relating to secular rights; or
(3) For a consideration, reward, or pecuniary benefit, present or anticipated, direct or indirect, does any act in a representative capacity in behalf of another tending to obtain or secure for such other the prevention or the redress of a wrong or the enforcement or establishment of a right; or
(4) As a vocation, enforces, secures, settles, adjusts, or compromises defaulted, controverted, or disputed accounts, claims, or demands between persons with neither of whom he or she is in privity or in the relation of employer and employee in the ordinary sense; is practicing law.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any person, firm, or corporation from attending to and caring for his, her, or its own business, claims, or demands, nor from preparing abstracts of title, certifying, guaranteeing, or insuring titles to property, real or personal, or an interest therein, or a lien or encumbrance thereon, but any such person, firm, or corporation engaged in preparing abstracts of title, certifying, guaranteeing, or insuring titles to real or personal property are prohibited from preparing or drawing or procuring or assisting in the drawing or preparation of deeds, conveyances, mortgages, and any paper, document, or instrument affecting or relating to secular rights, which acts are hereby defined to be an act of practicing law, unless such person, firm, or corporation shall have a proprietary interest in such property; however, any such person, firm, or corporation so engaged in preparing abstracts of title, certifying, guaranteeing, or insuring titles shall be permitted to prepare or draw or procure or assist in the drawing or preparation of simple affidavits or statements of fact to be used by such person, firm, or corporation in support of its title policies, to be retained in its files and not to be recorded.
(d) Only a person who is a citizen of the United States or, if not a citizen of the United States, a person who is legally present in the United States with appropriate documentation from the federal government, may be licensed to practice law in this state.
(e) Each attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Alabama, whether the license is a special or a regular license, may provide pro bono legal services organized through or recognized by the Alabama State Bar Association.
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