GREENSBORO, NC -- Last week, I commented that North Carolina state law prohibits people from practicing law in the state without passing the Bar exam. That lead me to wonder how the newly-hired City Attorney Rita Danish, a lawyer from Ohio who is not yet licensed to practice law in North Carolina could be giving legal advice to City Council members.
While I got some emails about it, everyone talked around the issue, no one offering a definitive explanation of why Ms. Danish's actions were not contrary to the prohibitions of state law. So I asked Frayda Bluestein, professor of public law and government at the UNC School of Government -- who, as I've told her, makes a great contribution to our civic well-being and the health of our democracy by willingly answering questions like this from people she doesn't know.
She cited the North Carolina Bar rules, which say that a lawyer not licensed in North Carolina may indeed "provide legal services to the lawyer's employer or its organizational affiliates." There are some circumstances, like a trial, that require the approval of a judge, but not the kind of activities in which Ms. Danish is engaged: providing services to her employer, which she is perfectly able to do.
Much thanks to Dr. Bluestein for the information
Amazing, all these "lawyers" bouncing around these threads and none seem to be able to answer a simple question.
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