Company: North Carolina General Assembly

North Carolina Attorney General Opinion

§ 84A‑4.  Scope of practice.
(a)	Subject to the limitations set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, a person licensed as a foreign legal consultant under this Chapter may provide legal services in the State and be compensated for those legal services.
(b)	A person licensed as a foreign legal consultant shall not engage in any of the following:
(1)	Appear on behalf of another person or entity as the attorney for that person or entity in any legal proceeding or before any judicial officer or State or municipal agency or tribunal.
(2)	Sign or file in the capacity of an attorney any pleadings, motions, or other documents in any legal proceeding or before any judicial officer or State or municipal agencies, or tribunal.
(3)	Prepare any deed, deed of trust, mortgage, option, lease, assignment, agreement or contract of sale, or any other instrument that may affect title to real estate located in the United States.
(4)	Prepare any will or trust instrument affecting the disposition of any property located in the United States and owned by a resident of the United States.
(5)	Prepare any instrument relating to the administration of a decedent's estate in the United States.
(6)	Prepare any instrument affecting the marital relationship, rights, or duties of a resident of the United States or affecting the custody or care of the children of such a resident.
(7)	Render professional legal advice regarding State law, the laws of any other state, the laws of the District of Columbia, the laws of the United States or the laws of any foreign country other than the country in which the foreign legal consultant is admitted to practice as an attorney or the equivalent thereof.
(8)	In any way represent that the foreign legal consultant is licensed as an attorney in the State or in any other jurisdiction unless he or she is licensed in that jurisdiction.
(9)	Use any title other than "foreign legal consultant"; provided, however, that the foreign legal consultant's authorized title and firm name in the foreign country in which he or she is admitted to practice as an attorney or the equivalent thereof, may be used, if the title, firm name, and the name of the foreign country are stated together with the title "foreign legal consultant". Nothing may be added to the title to create the impression that the foreign legal consultant holds a license to practice law in North Carolina.
(10)	Be hired by a firm as a partner, member, or in any capacity other than as a foreign legal consultant whose services shall be overseen by an attorney licensed to practice law in North Carolina.
(c)	If a particular matter requires legal advice from a person admitted to practice law as an attorney in a jurisdiction other than the one in which the foreign legal consultant is admitted to practice law, or its equivalent thereof, then the foreign legal consultant shall consult an attorney, or the equivalent thereof, in that other jurisdiction, obtain written legal advice on the particular matter, and transmit the written legal advice to the client. (1995, c. 427, s. 1.)

G.S. 84a-4		Page