LAWYER WATCH : Bingo Barristers

Times can be tough for lawyers in a recession. Firm profits and the annual income of some attorneys have declined. But that’s no excuse for the reported price-gauging of applicants for U.S. visas.

Under terms of the Immigration Act of 1990, the State Department will award 40,000 visas for permanent resident status through a lottery. The State Department insists that applicants do not need an attorney to enter the lottery. Although the requirements are not final, applicants will probably need to submit a statement with little more than their name, address, country and date of birth, dependents’ names and evidence of a job offer or employment in the United States.

Simple enough. But some lawyers are reportedly charging up to $1,000 in advance to draw up these statements--with no guarantee of securing a visa. A few particularly enterprising lawyers have expanded this business by placing advertisements in foreign-language newspapers here and abroad.

Are these lawyers simply responding to the market for legal services? Or, more likely, are they preying on people desperate to enter this country or to stay here, and who are willing to pay top dollar for a chance to do so? And, in so doing, are they charging “unconscionable fees,” prohibited by the State Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct?

To assist visa applicants, the State Department will operate a 24-hour phone line with application information and will place announcements in newspapers nationally.

In the meantime, the State Bar might want to take a closer look at this business.