Earlier this week a series of proposals were made to the commission that could streamline the process for foreign lawyers to register as in-house counsel. Thomson Reuters reports that the proposals may allow foreign in-house counsel to handle some matters in the United States while providing judges with guidelines on admitting foreign lawyers into court on specific cases.
Identify and regulate
Michael Traynor, co-chair of the ethics commission, said that there are already foreign-trained lawyers working as in-house counsel who are operating with little supervision. The ABA hopes that new rules would help to identify and regulate them.
However, opponents say changes to the rules could lead to malpractice as lawyers with little to no experience of US law may fall short of their professional and ethical responsibilities.
Malpractice
‘Even the lawyers who have a good education engage in malpractice every day,’ commented Larry Fox, a lecturer at Yale Law School and former chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. ‘Why should we add to the malpractice by adding to our profession people who by definition don't have an education in these matters?’
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