A Uniform Rule Governing the Admission and Practice of Attorneys Before United States District Courts

The increase in the interstate and international practice of law necessitates a review of the rules governing the admission of attorneys to practice before federal district courts. By virtue of the sweep of their jurisdictional net, federal district courts are likely to be the fora for litigating most interstate or international disputes. The present rules, based upon the antiquated notion that lawyers only rarely practice law in federal district court, and then only in the federal district court located in the state in which they practice, do not address this change in the practice of law. For these reasons, a new Rule concerning the admission to practice law in federal district courts, and designed to account for the recent changes in the practice of law, is worth serious consideration. The Rule is based on the theory that lawyers will act ethically by handling only those legal matters within their competence and that clients will act intelligently when hiring a lawyer. The Rule will not result in a system of perfect client representation by lawyers in federal courts, but will provide the federal district courts with some assurance of lawyer competence. For these reasons, and because a single rule providing for the admission of lawyers to practice law before all federal district courts is more than a decade overdue, this Rule should be implemented as soon as possible