Leaders of the New York State Bar Association have asked the Court of Appeals ...

"State Bar Supports Easing Rules on Practice by In-House Counsel
New York Law Journal
November 09, 2010

ALBANY - Leaders of the New York State Bar Association have asked the Court of Appeals to permit in-house counsels who have a "continuous presence" in New York to be authorized to practice law here without having to pass the state bar exam.

The House of Delegates, meeting Saturday at the group's Albany headquarters, approved a resolution asking the New York Court of Appeals to add a new Part 522 to its rules to create a registration requirement specifically for in-house counsel.

While relieving in-house counsels of the bar exam requirement and the Appellate Division character and fitness tests to see if they are in good professional standing in their home states, the new rule would require them to pay New York's biennial $375 lawyer registration fee, to meet the state's continuing legal education requirements and to be subject to New York's disciplinary rules.

Read an excerpt from the committee's report.

The recommendations to the Court were developed by the state bar's Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct and its Corporate Counsel Section. The New York City Bar and the New York County Lawyers' Association helped develop the proposal and jointly submitted the report.
The House of Delegates overwhelming approved the proposals by a voice vote.

"We are very aware of this issue and we will be responsive to it," Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said in an interview. "We are interested in this. It is an issue that has been out there and it will very much be considered by us."

Judge Lippman said he expected to put the matter on the agenda for the Court's administrative meeting next month.

"This is something we should be looking into in this day and age," the chief judge said, adding that legitimizing the practice of law in New York by competent in-house attorneys would further his goal of preserving New York as a worldwide leader in commercial law.

Stephen P. Younger, president of the state bar, said the recommendation, if adopted by the Court, would address an area of "major concern" at large corporations, namely, whether their in-house counsels in New York are engaged in the illegal practice of law when they advise their executives.

"This is about maintaining New York's place as a center for national and international business and with encouraging companies to come here without worrying that their counsels are practicing illegally," said Mr. Younger, of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.

The chairman of the committee on attorney conduct, Joseph E. Neuhaus, said in an interview that the phrase "continuous presence" was adopted from the American Bar Association model rules to define when a non-New York or foreign lawyer practices law frequently enough to qualify for the special in-house counsel designation.

Mr. Neuhaus said statutes on the unlawful practice of law are "unclear" and there is not enough case law to clarify the issue.

"Nobody thinks that [serving as in-house counsel in New York for] one week is practicing law," said Mr. Neuhaus, of Sullivan & Cromwell. "The issue is not having a transitory presence. The issue is having a continuous presence. We are talking about someone who was transferred here for two of three years."

Mr. Neuhaus said the situation is becoming more common as companies with multi-state or multi-national offices rotate executives, including their in-house counsels.

New York would require a reciprocity agreement with another state or country allowing New York lawyers to be admitted for the practice of law under similar circumstances.

According to the committee on attorney conduct, 44 states and the District of Columbia have adopted rules permitting out-of-state lawyers employed by in-state entities to practice locally. In addition to New York, the states without reciprocity agreements are Hawaii, Mississippi, Montana, Texas and West Virginia, according to state bar officials.

The committee said New York could generate new revenue through the registration fees and perhaps new state bar members.

"We really are at the back end of a trend that is sweeping the country," Mr. Neuhaus said.

He said he did not have an estimate of the number of lawyers practicing in-house who would qualify for the special licensing procedures. They are basically "flying under the radar," he said.

According to the report, there is little danger of in-house counsel overstepping their bounds.

"We respectfully submit that employers who have an ongoing employment relationship with their in-house lawyers are in a position to evaluate the competence and quality of their in-house lawyers and, under our proposed rules, registered in-house counsel would not be permitted to provide legal services to the general public," the report said.

"Moreover, most employers large enough to need in-house counsel are in any event sophisticated consumers of legal services," the joint report added.

When California adopted registration requirements for in-house counsels from out of state similar to the ones being proposed in New York, some 800 attorneys registered, according to Barbara S. Gillers, a member of the committee on attorney conduct.

Comments on Saturday by members of the House of Delegates were generally favorable.

Robert S. Stone of Mount Kisco, a former in-house counsel for IBM, said he and other IBM attorneys were uncertain of their ability to practice law in Connecticut when the company moved its corporate headquarters from Armonk, N.Y., to Stamford, Conn. Connecticut subsequently adopted a rule legitimizing in-house counsels who came from other states, Mr. Stone said.

"This will generate more business for New York," Mr. Stone said. "I think this is magnificent work."

Lewis Tesser, director of NYCLA's ethics institute, said doubts over whether much-traveled in-house counsels violate illegal-practice-of-law statutes in New York put some lawyers in potentially "very precarious" and "very tenable" situations.

John S. Marwell of Mount Kisco, another former counsel for IBM, said the illegal practice of law has been a concern for 35 years.

The bar groups credited Steven Krane, the former state bar president, for pushing the idea of easing in-house counsel registration rules as early as 2003.

Mr. Krane, a partner at Proskauer Rose, died in June of a heart attack at age 53. The House of Delegates observed a moment of silence for him on Saturday, and former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye submitted a written testimonial remembering Mr. Krane as a brilliant legal scholar and practitioner devoted to the state bar.

Also Saturday, a planned vote on a resolution by the Dispute Resolution Section requiring attorneys to notify litigants of the availability of mediation was pulled off the agenda. Bar officials said the section was still receiving comment.

The state bar also heard a presentation of a NYCLA study on the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the association's recommendations for improving the judge sanctioning body. The commission has adopted some of NYCLA's recommendations, but said others would be impractical.

Bar officials said the House of Delegates would be asked to adopt the NYCLA recommendation during its next meeting, in late January."

Source
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Whatever the Corrupt Proskauer Rose Attorney Steven Krane did to corrupt the New York State Bar Association - unDO it. . Steven Krane was involved in the Stealing of the Iviewit Technology and Well convenient for the Corrupt Proskauer Rose Firm both Steven Krane and Stephen Kaye have died.. hmmmm.. mysteriously.. AND with so much PROOF on the Corruption within the Evil Walls of Proskauer Rose..

Steven Krane died at 53 .. come on . I believe that Proskauer ROSE murdered both Steven Krane and Stephen Kaye.. Believe what makes you sleep best at night. but as for me. I believe it was Murder flat out to hide what they knew about the 13 Trillion Dollar Technology that Kenneth Rubenstein, Christopher Wheeler - Proskauer ROSE Thugs STOLE for MPEG LA.. I also believe that Chris Wheeler formerly of Proskauer Rose, along with the NY Proskauer Rose THUGS hired someone to BOMB the Mini Van of Inventor Eliot Bernstein in effort to Kill Eliot Bernstein - iviewit inventor and his family... and Proskauer ROSE paid of the Boca Police in Order To Cover Up the Bombing.. therefore it was NEVER investigated.. and funny .. I am a Homeland Security Risk for BLOGGING.. and that was not even investigated..