The news agency Reuters reports that earlier this week court administrators in Albany have for the first time temporarily dropped protectionist rules under provisions of the state’s Major Disaster Rule. The move came following a request from the New York Bar Association.

Jealously guarded

Individual states have historically jealously guarded their ability to prevent outside lawyers from practising in their jurisdictions, a point of longstanding irritation to global law firms keen to crack the major US markets of New York, Washington and California.
According to the agency report, under provisions of the disaster rule, non-New York-qualified lawyers must be supervised by a not-for-profit or bar association, must notify clients that they have been admitted by another state bar and that they cannot appear in local courts.

Health lawyers

Reuters quoted a letter sent earlier this week from Patricia Bucklin, the New York State Bar Association’s executive director, to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman. ‘There are a number of qualified lawyers who want to provide assistance to those affected by the storm,’ she said, pointing to the Washington-based American Health Lawyers Association and the State Bar of Georgia.
According to the report, the temporary measures will operate until the state’s appeal court deems the emergency has finished. The current order applies to New York City, Long Island and the state counties of Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.