[Federal Communications Bar Ass’n Letterhead]
November 9, 2001
Wayne J. Positan, Esq., Chair
Commission on Multijurisdictional Practice
American Bar Association
103 Eisenhower Parkway
Roseland, NJ 07068-1049
Dear Mr. Positan:
Attached to this letter is a copy of a Model Rule or Statute that we understand has been sent to your Commission by the American Corporate Counsel Association, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and the National Organization of Bar Counsel, termed by them "A Common Sense Proposal for Multijurisdictional Practice." We have reviewed the proposal and wish to add our endorsement to that which we know you have already received from the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA.
The "Common Sense Proposal" seems to us to be simpler than the approach to multijurisdictional practice taken in Rules 5.5 and 8.5 of the Ethics 2000 Commission. Moreover it makes clear, as Rule 5.5 proposed by the Ethics Commission does not, that clients who need temporary services from their lawyers to be provided in states adopting the rule are not precluded from receiving them if they do not happen to be resident, as most of our clients are not, of the jurisdiction in which the lawyer is admitted to practice.
Sincerely,
Margaret L. Tobey
President
MLT/wp
Enclosure
cc: Members of MJP Commission
S. White Rhyne, FCBA MJP Liaison