Appearing as counsel

Representing someone before a court is reserved to persons admitted to a bar, and the rules against unauthorised practice exist because the sanction has to land somewhere. A lawyer can be struck off, sued for negligence, held in contempt. In January 2023 the company DoNotPay dropped a plan to have a defendant in a United States traffic court wear an earpiece repeating what a model produced, after state bars warned of prosecution. In February 2025 the Federal Trade Commission finalised an order against that company, with 193,000 dollars in monetary relief, over claims that its service stood in for a lawyer. The Commission found it had never tested its output against what a lawyer would produce and had retained no attorney to check it. Models draft, search and cite better every year. What stays with a person is the appearance itself, and the exposure that comes with it.