Multijurisdictional Practice and the Influence of Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5 - An Interim Assessment

In this piece I examine the influence of Model Rule 5.5 on the law of multijurisdictional practice in the states by lawyers licensed in the United States who are not working in-house for an organizational client. In doing so, I do not intend to revisit the debate on what lines should be drawn, if any, to control multijurisdictional practice. Those issues have been well debated in the adoption of the Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers, the deliberations of the Commission on Multijurisdictional Practice,15 consideration surrounding state implementation initiatives, and voluminous commentary. Instead, I want to explore the impact Rule 5.5‟s adoption has had on the states. To what extent has its adoption led to a more uniform approach to multijurisdictional practice? What do state variations tell us about the stress points in the Model Rule as adopted? What are the traps for the unwary in this new golden age of multijurisdictional practice