The next meeting of the Macon Bar Association is Friday, November 15th at 12:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza. Our speaker will be Dwight J. Davis of King & Spalding. Dwight is one of the co-chairs of the State Bar of Georgia Multijurisdictional Committee. State Bars around the country have created multijuridictional committees to assist the American Bar Association to determine the ability of lawyers to practice across state lines. Believe it or not, a lawyer who has a case pending in Macon and takes a deposition in Alabama or acquires goods in New York for their Georgia client or investigates a case in North Carolina to determine where a lawsuit should be filed here or there might be engaged in the practice of law in another state where the lawyer is not licensed to practice. Nothing used to be thought of a lawyer's interstate activities, such as doing investigations or discovery in other states, as long as the lawyer did not set up an office in another state or hold themselves out as able to practice in another state.
However, as a result of the case of Birbower, Montalbano, Condon & Frank v. Superior Court, 949 P.2d 1 (1998), a California case where New York lawyers came to California several times to consult with a client and negotiate the settlement of a dispute, this has changed. In this case, there were limited services rendered by the New York lawyers in New York. After the client's case settled, the client sued its lawyers for malpractice, and the firm counterclaimed to recover its fee. The Supreme Court of California held that the Birbower firm had practiced in California without authorization and barred the firm from recovering for services other than the ones performed in New York. The Court also noted that a lawyer might practice law "in California" merely by giving advice by telephone, fax or e-mail. The Birbower case awakened lawyers and bar leaders to the risk that the "accepted wisdom" regarding interstate practice might be wrong, and dangerous.
Now, as a result of Birbower, many bar associations and other organization are studying these issues, including the State Bar of Georgia. The Committee on Multijurisdictional Practice, co-chaired by Dwight Davis and Christopher Townley, has a mission to study questions surrounding mulitjurisdictional practice and make a report and recommendations to the Board of Governors of the State Bar. The American Bar Association's Ethics Commission has made some recommendation for changes to the present rules that govern multijurisidictional practice.
Mr. Davis will discuss the current regulations and the proposed changes, answer any questions that we might have, and take back to the committee any comments that we might also have.
Please come to this meeting because multijurisdictional practice affects all of us.
Pamela White-Colbert, President