New Jersey Lawyer May Work Remotely from Florida
On May 20, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court approved an UPL Advisory Opinion that was filed with the Court in August 2020 and responded to a New Jersey Attorney’s inquiry as to whether he could practice New Jersey law from Florida without violating the unauthorized practice of law (“UPL”) prohibition. We covered the UPL advisory opinion here. Subsequently, the ABA released an opinion on remote work that we covered here.
Fundamentally, the remote work opinions advise that if you are “merely sitting”in one state (e.g. Florida), but limiting your practice to the state in which you are barred (e.g. New Jersey) and not in anyway holding yourself out as a lawyer in the state in which you are “sitting” then you should not be in violation of UPL and ABA Code of Professional Responsibility Rule 5.5 that appears in various iterations throughout the country.
In the Florida case, the New Jersey lawyer inquiry involved his intention to work solely on his federal intellectual property matters with his New Jersey law firm while residing in the lawyer’s home in Naples, Florida.
And while I have been quoted as saying that it is a positive step forward in aligning the rules with contemporary practice, technology, and access to legal services, it remains a narrow opinion despite its broad coverage in the legal news media. Understandably, nearly every major legal news outlet has reported on the opinion; however, many of the articles are behind paywalls so I felt that it would be remiss for us not to take note here. For the The Florida Bar News coverage click here.
