Opinion ID: 1985228
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bedson was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

Text: We have long recognized that [o]ftentimes the line between [the unauthorized practice of law] and permissible business and professional activities by non-lawyers is indistinct. New Jersey State Bar Ass'n v. New Jersey Mortgage Assocs., 32 N.J. 430, 437, 161 A. 2d 257 (1960). The State Bar Ass'n settlement disposed of the necessity to review specifically the work of each broker with regard to a real-estate contract. Whether a broker completes a real-estate contract by filling in the blanks of a form contract, or writes the entire contract, he or she is within the ambit of State Bar Ass'n. Hence, unless another exception applies, the broker must include the attorney-review clause in the contract. We agree with the lower courts that when Bedson, a licensed real-estate salesperson, filled in the blanks of Hovnanian's contract, he was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The question, therefore, is whether an exception exists to remove Bedson from the purview of State Bar Ass'n.