Link to original WordPerfect Document
98 N.J.L.J. 822
September 25, 1975
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
Appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court
OPINION 316
Foreign Attorney Practicing in New Jersey
Attorney's Name Before Immigration Judge
The inquirer is an attorney who practices primarily in the
field of immigration and naturalization law, appearing almost
exclusively before federal administrative bodies and by
correspondence with U.S. consuls in foreign countries. He has a
substantial number of Spanish-speaking clients, although he does
not speak Spanish. The inquirer has, therefore, hired an attorney
admitted to practice in another state, who is now a resident of New
Jersey, to act as an interpreter for him. He asks whether it would
be proper to permit this out-of-state attorney to appear in the
inquirer's name at hearings before the Immigration Judges at the
Immigration Service in Newark or at deportation or exclusion
hearings. The inquirer has also submitted a copy of 8 C.F.R. 292.1
and 8 C.F.R. 1.1, which, read together, provide that any member in
good standing of the bar of the highest court of any state,
possession, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia,
who is not under any order of any court suspending, adjoining,
restraining, disbarring, or otherwise restricting him in the
practice of law, may represent persons before the Immigration and
Naturalization Service and the Board of Immigration Appeals.
It is obvious that, under the supremacy clause of the federal
constitution and the constitutional power of the federal government
to control immigration and naturalization, Congress and the
Department of Justice have the power to regulate procedures before
the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Board of
Immigration Appeals. The issue in this case is not whether the
foreign attorney may appear before an immigration judge but rather
whether permitting him to practice in the name of the New Jersey
attorney violates the canons of ethical standards regulating the
conduct of the New Jersey attorney.
R. 1:21-1 provides in part that no attorney authorized to
practice in this State shall permit another person to practice in
this State in his name or as his partner, employee, or associate
unless the other person is an attorney holding a plenary license to
practice in New Jersey, is in good standing, and is either
domiciled or maintains his office in this State.
The inquirer states that the employee does not represent
himself to any client as being licensed to practice in this State
and that all correspondence to government agencies or to clients is
in the inquirer's name and signed by the inquirer. It seems clear
to the Committee that it would be an inescapable conclusion to the
client that the foreign attorney was practicing in New Jersey in
the name of the New Jersey attorney.
In our Opinion 223, 94 N.J.L.J. 1197 (1971), we said that,
"[w]here partnerships are formed between lawyers who are not all
admitted to practice in the courts of the state, care should be
taken to avoid any misleading name or representation which would
create a false impression as to the professional position or
privileges of the member not locally admitted.'" In Opinion 254, 96
N.J.L.J. 463 (1973), the Committee held that it would not even be
permissible for a New Jersey attorney to lease space to an out-of-
state law firm because "the general public would be justified in
regarding the premise as constituting the New Jersey office of the
out-of-state law firm, particularly where the inference of
association between the New Jersey practitioner and the
out-of-state law firm would be inescapable."
We, therefore, conclude in this case that the inference of
professional association between the New Jersey practitioner and
the out-of-state attorney would be inescapable and that the foreign
attorney would be practicing law in the name of the New Jersey
attorney which would be an ethical notation by the New Jersey
attorney, although the foreign attorney is expressly permitted
under federal law to appear before the Immigration and
Naturalization Service.
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