Comments on: Why the Devil’s in the Details of Ethics Rules When You Start A Law Firm and Why That Needs To Change

By: Gyi Tsakalakis

Gyi Tsakalakis — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:31:47 +0000

This area is yet another indication of the disconnect between the practical reality of practicing and the “powers that be” at the State bars.
While New York and Florida have received most of the publicity in this arena, several states still have arcane, vague, and arbitrary rules.
While there needs to be a balance struck between a lawyer’s right to commercial speech and protecting the public from misleading advertisements, the current ethics landscape is quite simply, unworkable.

By: Eric Cooperstein

Eric Cooperstein — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:41:06 +0000

Of course it’s time! But the gatekeepers are not motivated to break down these barriers. Why? For one thing, their livelihood doesn’t depend on it. Second, it’s about turf and control. Third, competition is bad for old-line stakeholders who would rather not be forced to change and compete more.
Aside from these cynical forces against change, there is a real problem of how disciplinary enforcement will work if we were ever to break down the barriers between the states. If someone gets a MN law license, moves to Arizona, opens a practice, and steals a client’s money, who conducts the investigation? How do you prevent the lawyer from just moving to another state and hanging out another shingle? How will local lawyers compete if well-financed national law firms can practice anywhere with no barriers to entry?
We have achieved much more uniformity in ethics rules with the new ABA Model Rules — I believe over 40 states have adopted them in some form, although they each tend to tweak them here and there. Many states have adopted a more-expansive version of Rule 5.5 regarding MJP. What we need now is a committee to work on MJP II – figuring out how to write realistic rules that allow lawyers to practice virtually anywhere and still be answerable for any wrongful conduct they engage in. It will take a lot of work.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:34:41 +0000

Hear, hear. I currently live in CA and am licensed there and in NY and NJ. I want to start practicing on my NY and NJ licenses, but I'm terrified. Bona fide office requirements? Lawyer advertising laws? Arbitrary (and often unconstitutional) CLE requirements? So instead I just send them my bar fees every year and get no value from it. Takes too much effort to control the risk exposure.