Multi-disciplinary and Multijurisdictional Practices

A multi-disciplinary practice is a partnership, professional corporation or other association or entity that includes lawyers and non-lawyers and that provides both legal and non-legal services. At present, the ethics and unauthorized practice of law rules in every state except the District of Columbia forbid lawyers from sharing fees or entering partnerships with non-lawyers.

Many states, however, including Virginia, are studying whether lawyers and non-lawyers, working together and sharing fees in a single commonly owned entity, should be allowed to provide both legal and other services to the public. The issue of multi-disciplinary practices involves all legal entities -- from large law firms that may merge with large accounting firms to small law firms and solo practitioners who believe their clients would be best served by being able to obtain multiple professional services from a single entity. This debate is really a continuation of long-standing debates on whether the prohibitions on fee-splitting and partnering with non-lawyers makes sense in a changing business and regulatory world.

Our attorneys are experienced in counseling law firms on the specific rules for the Commonwealth of Virginia regarding the issues surrounding multi-disciplinary practices. In addition, we will defend lawyers and their firms against charges of unauthorized practice of law and sanctions of fee forfeiture that may arise from a multidisciplinary practice.

Multijurisdictional Practices

In most jurisdictions, including Virginia, lawyers must be licensed by each state and territory in the United States in which they intend to practice law. While many lawyers have licenses to practice in more than one state, their law practices and those of many other lawyers increasingly involve contacts with and dealings in states in which they are not licensed to practice.

When members have practices that cross jurisdictional lines, many states require that these lawyers, admitted to practice in other states, be admitted to practice in that state as well. In order to comply with state statutory and professional ethics rules, then, most lawyers will have to take and pass multiple bar and character and fitness examinations in order to gain general admission to the practice law, to become licensed through an Admission by Motion, or to file for and be admitted pro hac vice.

To date, many lawyers are becoming multi-state admitted to enhance their value to clients, but there are practical limitations to these efforts. Few lawyers want to take one, let alone two or more bar examinations to obtain full admission to practice law in multiple states. Other lawyers provide the multi-jurisdictional services to their clients, knowing that they may be violating unauthorized practice of law rules. Recent litigation suggests that courts will not overlook these transgressions. The courts have held that the lawyer violating the rules against unauthorized practice of law by providing legal advice and services in a jurisdiction where the lawyer has not been licensed, must forfeit any and all fees related to those services.

Our attorneys are experienced in counseling law firms on the specific rules for the Commonwealth of Virginia regarding the issues surrounding multi-jurisdictional practices. In addition, we will defend lawyers and their firms against charges of unauthorized practice of law and sanctions of fee forfeiture.

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