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N.Y. May Loosen Practice Rules
The house of delegates of the New York State Bar Association last week approved proposed changes to the rules of professional conduct that would allow lawyers from outside the state -- particularly corporate counsel -- greater freedom to practice there. It is a proposal that the Association of Corporate Counsel calls "most welcome news."
The proposed Rule 5.5, governing multijurisdictional practice, would allow a lawyer admitted outside New York to provide legal services within the state on a temporary basis in several circumstances, including the catch-all of providing services that "arise out of or are reasonably related to the lawyer's practice in a jurisdiction in which the lawyer is admitted to practice."
Of more direct application to corporate counsel, the proposed Rule 5.5(d) would permit an outside lawyer to provide legal services in New York that "are provided to the lawyer's employer or its organizational affiliates and are not services for which the forum requires pro hac vice admission." The ACC says this proposal is a significant victory.
"This ... allows in-house counsel to be authorized to practice full time in the state for their employer client. The rule suggests that the state bar may adopt a registration system for counsel who wish to practice locally under 5.5(d), and we will watch the registration issue carefully since it can create unnecessarily onerous processes, but all in all, this is a true advance for those in-house counsel working in the state but flying below the bar's radar in terms of their lack of local admission."
The proposals would require approval by New York's Court of Appeals, which is slated to consider them early next year.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 5, 2007 at 05:21 PM | Permalink
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