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Yes, you read that correctly. The ABA Journal is featuring "legal rebels" both on its web site and in the September issue. One such is Richard Granat, who now lives in Florida (age 69). He is profiled as a man who generates innovative ideas like Starbuck's does coffee flavors. Here's one:

"His various webpages cater to their anticipated needs. One site,MDFamilyLawyer.com, offers family law forms bundled at a fixed price with legal advice to res idents in Maryland and Washington, D.C., where Granat is licensed. Users answer a set of questions?how many children they have, their separation date, whether they own property?generating a form for court filings. Contested cases are referred elsewhere.

"Granat spends about 30 minutes daily with that site, and it earns him about $100,000 a year. The site focuses on simple matters; he estimates that only about 10 percent of the users require forms with customized language."

Does this business model comply with Florida UPL rules? Is Granat practicing law "in" Florida, where the ABA piece does not say he is admitted, or "in" DC and MD, where it says he is? Or both? 



In Servidone Construction Corp. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. (N.D.N.Y 1995), a district judge denied a lawyer a $4 million dollar fee because his office was in NY, where he was not admitted, even though the work for which he sought the fee was in an out of state court where he was admitted. The lesson from that case: It's where you practice law, not the law you practice, that determine whether you hit up against UPL problems.

(The Servidone lawyer had stationery with a NY address that implied NY bar membership. Should that be determinative?)

In NY and not "virtually" in CA (see Birbrower), I can opine on CA law (or Australian law if competent). But I can't open an office in Berkeley and advise on NY or federal law. 

  

I applaud Granat's creativity. But do US practice rules tolerate it? If Granat cannot do what he's doing, then I, a NY lawyer, cannot do law work at my beach front second home on Nantucket (which I don't have). Or should it matter that I'm at my pretend Nantucket home only sometimes and Granat lives in Florida apparently year round? 

Maybe Granat's best defense is that no FL lawyer will care so The Florida Bar, as it calls itself, will not go after him because he presents no competitive threat. What about the MD and DC bars?

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