A ghost lawyer is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

who writes for other lawyers without assuming credit. Ghost lawyers often offer their services to other lawyers who need help on a project-by-project basis without wanting to take on a full associate. There are concerns about the

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

of ghost lawyers with regard to

pro se ''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) comes from Latin ''pro se'', meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves" which, in modern law, means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, o ...

litigant - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

s, but most states permit the practice. As the number of pro se litigants is on an upward trend, attorneys have adapted their services to accommodate the trend in the form of "unbundled" legal services. In such arrangements, the attorney agrees to a limited scope representation of the client.

Notes and references

Legal ethics Lawyers by type {{law-term-stub