Florida prisons are generally required to provide law libraries to ensure that inmates have adequate legal materials to prepare court documents. The prison will also usually assign inmate law clerks who have completed a training class to assist inmates in doing legal research and preparing court documents. The Florida Supreme Court and the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar forbid the “unlicensed practice of law.” That means a nonlawyer (including an inmate law clerk, a lawyer from another state, or a law student) cannot give legal advice or represent anyone in court proceedings unless they have a license to practice law in Florida. In other words, a nonlawyer without a Florida license to practice law cannot give legal advice to anyone or attempt to act as another person’s lawyer either in written papers or in court appearances. The Department of Corrections has rules regarding the use of law libraries that may differ between particular prisons. Because writing a pro se brief requires some legal research, it is important to learn the prison’s rules for use of the law libraries and inmate law clerks.
