Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 44, November 2, 2024
(a)
Prohibited activities. A
person licensed to practice as a foreign legal consultant under Rule 341
(relating to licensing of foreign legal consultants) may render legal services
in this Commonwealth with respect to the law of the foreign country where the
foreign legal consultant is admitted to practice law, subject, however, to the
limitations that he or she shall not:
(1)
appear for a person other than himself or herself as attorney in any court, or
before any magistrate or other judicial officer, in this Commonwealth (other
than upon admission pro hac vice pursuant to Rule 301
(relating to admission pro hac vice));
(2) prepare any instrument effecting the
transfer or registration of title to real estate located in the United States
of America;
(3) prepare:
(i) any will or trust instrument effecting
the disposition on death of any property located in the United States of
America and owned by a resident thereof, or
(ii) any instrument relating to the
administration of a decedent's estate in the United States of
America;
(4) prepare any
instrument in respect of the marital or parental relations, rights or duties of
a resident of the United States of America, or the custody or care of the
children of such a resident;
(5)
render professional legal advice on the law of this Commonwealth, of any other
jurisdiction in which he or she is not authorized to practice law or of the
United States of America (whether rendered incident to the preparation of legal
instruments or otherwise);
(6) be,
or in any way hold himself or herself out as, a member of the bar of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; or
(7) carry on his or her practice under, or
utilize in connection with such practice, any name, title or designation other
than one or more of the following:
(i) his or
her own name;
(ii) the name of the
law firm with which he or she is affiliated;
(iii) his or her authorized title in the
foreign country of his or her admission to practice, which may be used in
conjunction with the name of such country; and
(iv) the title "foreign legal consultant,"
which may be used in conjunction with the words "admitted to the practice of
law in [name of the foreign country of his or her admission to
practice]."
(b)
Rights and obligations. Subject to the limitations set forth
in Subdivision (a) of this Rule, a person licensed as a foreign legal
consultant under Rule 341 shall be considered a lawyer affiliated with the bar
of this Commonwealth and shall be entitled and subject to:
(1) the rights and obligations set forth in
the Rules of Professional Conduct or arising from the other conditions and
requirements that apply to a member of the bar of this Commonwealth under the
Enforcement Rules; and
(2) the
rights and obligations of a member of the bar of this Commonwealth with respect
to:
(i) affiliation in the same law firm with
one or more members of the bar of this Commonwealth, including by:
(A) employing one or more members of the bar
of this Commonwealth;
(B) being
employed by one or more members of the bar of this Commonwealth or by any law
firm that includes members of the bar of this Commonwealth or which maintains
an office in this Commonwealth; and
(C) being a partner in any law firm that
includes members of the bar of this Commonwealth or which maintains an office
in this Commonwealth; and
(ii) attorney-client privilege, work-product
privilege and similar professional privileges.
(c)
Discipline. A person
licensed to practice as a foreign legal consultant under Rule 341 shall be
subject to professional discipline in the same manner and to the same extent as
members of the bar of this Commonwealth. The license of a foreign legal
consultant shall be revoked when he or she no longer meets the requirements and
obligations for licensing set forth in Rule 341(a)(1). A foreign legal
consultant shall not be subject to the Pennsylvania Rules for Continuing Legal
Education.
(d)
Service of
process. Service of process on the Executive Director of the
Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, pursuant to the
designation filed under Rule 341(b)(8), shall be made by personally delivering
to the Executive Director, or a deputy or assistant authorized by him or her to
receive such service, at his or her office, duplicate copies of such process
together with a fee as set by the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court.
Service of process shall be complete when the Executive Director of the
Disciplinary Board has been so served. The Executive Director of the
Disciplinary Board shall promptly send one of such copies to the foreign legal
consultant to whom the process is directed, by certified mail, return receipt
requested, addressed to the foreign legal consultant at the address specified
by him or her as provided in Rule 341(b)(8).
