Companies are made of humans

Posted Nov 17, 2024 0:17 UTC (Sun) by SLi (subscriber, #53131)
In reply to: Companies are made of humans by randomguy3
Parent article: Two approaches to tightening restrictions on loadable modules

Ah, that probably... makes sense! Although I must also say I'm not a big fan of the idea of "laypeople should not try to interpret law". That already presumes a legal system so complex that it should be replaced. Of course there are difficult cases, but from a European POV it seems outright silly that people other than the immediate parties shouldn't be able to try to figure out who is, say, responsible for a car accident without lawyers being involved (and most such incidents, I believe, are resolved without lawyers).

I also think that in most of those jurisdictions the rule is more like you're not allowed to 1) present yourself as qualified in law; 2) provide legal opinions for compensation (albeit I'm actually not sure if this applies in all contexts; I think a company may be allowed to hire someone who it believes is familiar with an area of the law to work on that stuff); 3) represent others.

Companies are made of humans

Posted Nov 17, 2024 12:16 UTC (Sun) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

> 1) present yourself as qualified in law;

And rather importantly, what does that mean? In the UK people who are NOT lawyers - who have no formal qualifications IN LAW - are also required by law to present legal opinions. In particular to LARGE corporations!

Okay, they are required to be formally qualified, and that qualification will almost certainly include the law as a required minor, but they are neither qualified nor licenced to practice law.

In the UK at least, all associations are supposed to include, as part of their governing structure, a Secretary. Above a certain size, these people have to be formally qualified, be it as a Secretary, Accountant, Lawyer or whatever. And these people are the ones held liable for the lawful behaviour of the company! As a Company Secretary, you are the person legally liable for the misbehaviour of the company you represent, and you could go to jail for it! Highly unlikely, but it's in the Statutes.

Cheers,
Wol