Prior to the effective date of this rule, if a lawyer has provided legal services in that Commonwealth solely as an employee of a commercial organisation. the provision of such legal services shall be deemed to be an activity authorised in the practice of legal practice in this Commonwealth for all purposes if that lawyer [satisfies the first four restricted admission requirements set out above]. A lawyer licensed in Georgia but working for a company in Philadelphia would have a home state, Georgia, and a host state, Pennsylvania. Of course, an in-house lawyer may be admitted to practice law in more than one state. Similarly, an in-house lawyer may generally have offices in States other than his or her home State or regular professional contacts. 6 More than sixty per cent of European countries do not require in-house lawyers to be members of the Bar Association. The National Organization of Bar Counsel, The Regulation of In-House Counsel – Overview of International Trends, (2015). In addition, Austria, Belgium, China, Croatia, Finland, France, Hungary, India, Italy, China, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Sweden prohibit in-house lawyers from remaining active members of the Bar Association. Id.

In “When a lawyer accepts an in-house lawyer position, the risk of problems related to the unlawful practice of law is similar. Here`s how several states with a higher number of patent attorneys handle the registration of licenses for out-of-state in-house attorneys. `15. The applicant must also prove that the undertaking does not provide legal services. This is to prevent lawyers from the outside law firm from using the limited attorney rule as a means of obtaining a license in Pennsylvania. 12. See, for example, Sperry v. State of Florida, 373 U.S. 379, 385 (1963) (Federal law excludes state licensing requirements if they interfere with the exercise of federal privileges). While there is a theoretical argument that unlicensed lawyers cannot create privileges, this argument has been explicitly considered and rejected. In Georgia-Pacific Plywood Co.

v. United States Plywood Corp., the Court concluded that waiting for a multi-state license for in-house counsel would impose an almost impossible burden on the lawyer and would require a practice dedicated “almost exclusively to the study of bar exams.” 15 The Court held that the destruction of privilege in this context would elevate form above substance, harm the entity worthy of protection (society) and ignore reality. This reasoning appears to be true today.16 If the Appeal Division accepts a candidate for registration as in-house counsel, the candidate will receive further instructions on registration with the Office of Court Administration (OC), as required by paragraph 522.3(c) and Part 118.3. In-house counsel must renew their status every two years with the ACCA, which maintains a database of registered in-house counsel. In-house lawyers who are not admitted to practice in a potential “host state” are likely to fall into one of three categories: (1) lawyers who have so little contact with the state that no action is required because they do not practice “as a lawyer” in that state; (2) legal advisers who qualify for general authorization when they are generally not qualified; and (3) lawyers who qualify for limited admission under the state in-house counsel process. In 2014, the Texas Supreme Court updated its rules regarding so-called “foreign legal consultants,” who are attorneys licensed in another state. An applicant who has been admitted to practice law in a foreign jurisdiction in three of the five years immediately preceding the application, who has been a distinguished member of the bar association of another state, or who has been active and instrumental in the lawful practice of law in a foreign country or other U.S. jurisdiction may be admitted as an in-house counsel in Texas. without taking the Texas Bar Association and passing.

Examination. The nominee must be at least 26 years of age and possess the moral character and general aptitude required for a member of the Texas Bar Association.