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| Release Date:
January 8, 2002 |
Release Number:
02 |
Supreme Court to Review Final Report on Out-Of-State Lawyers
Revised Rules Proposed for California Practice
San Francisco—The Supreme Court’s Advisory Task Force on Multijurisdictional
Practice has presented to the Supreme Court its final report containing
recommendations to ease and clarify current restrictions on the practice
of law in California by attorneys who are not members of the California
State Bar.
Chaired by San Francisco attorney Raymond Marshall, the task force was
appointed in January 2001 and was charged with reviewing current restrictions
on out-of- state lawyers practicing in California and whether changes should
be made. After a series of meetings, the task force issued an interim
report last August that was widely distributed for comment. The panel
considered the extensive comments received before competing the final report.
The Supreme Court today released the report to the public and will review
the task force’s recommendations and take action at an upcoming administrative
conference.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The report concludes that, at this time, “California should not adopt a
system of comity or reciprocity that would license out-of-state attorneys
in general to practice law in California without passing the California
bar exam.” Instead the report recommends that the current rules be
eased to allow certain categories of out-of-state lawyers to practice in
California. The task force suggested two mechanisms to permit these
out-of-state lawyers to provide legal services in California.
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Registration: This process would be similar to admission
to the State Bar of California, but would not require an attorney to pass
the California bar exam. It would permit an attorney licensed and
in good standing in another jurisdiction in the U.S. to practice law in
California on an ongoing basis.
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Change in the definition of the unauthorized practice of law: This
would allow out-of-state attorneys to undertake a specified task without
violating California law. This approach—often called a “safe harbor”—would
apply when an attorney’s involvement in California is too brief or infrequent
to warrant the time and expense that would be required with registration.
The report recommends that two classes of out-of-state lawyers be permitted
to register to practice as follows:
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In-house counsel providing out-of-court legal services exclusively
for a single, full-time business entity employer (e.g., a corporation or
partnership) that does not provide legal services to third parties.
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Public interest lawyers providing legal services to indigent
clients on an interim basis before taking the California bar exam, under
the supervision of an experienced member of the State Bar.
The task force recommends that the definition of “the unauthorized practice
of law” be modified to permit two additional categories of out-of-state
lawyers to undertake certain tasks in California:
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Transactional and other non-litigating lawyers providing
legal services in California on a temporary and occasional basis.
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Litigating lawyers providing legal services in California
in anticipation of filing a lawsuit in California, or as part of litigation
pending in another jurisdiction.
The task force concluded that these changes would provide useful steps
to accommodate current needs, while continuing to ensure the public’s interests
are protected.
The California Supreme Court is responsible for regulating and disciplining
attorneys who practice law in this state. The full text of the final
report is available at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/documents/finalmjprept.pdf.
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