Bush nominee story

[Paul Finkelman]

Hard to figure how someone who passes himself off as the "General 
Counsel" for a very large entity is NOT practicing law.  Does he preface 
every conversation with the President of the University by saying, "I am 
not giving legal advice; I do not give legal advice; I am not licensed 
to practice law anywhere in the United States."  Does he say in 
meetings, "I am not an attorney, but... here is what I think"  or does 
he just talk like he is a lawyers.  Also, it would be interesting to 
know what his job description is. Does the office of geneal counsel say 
the person "must be a lawyer" -- and not, the person must have a law 
degree.  

Paul Finkelman

Volokh, Eugene wrote:

>     Well, I'd love to hear what the rules are.  Is anyone up on Utah 
> law, or on professional responsibility law more generally?  Do 
> organizational employees need a law license to advise the organization 
> on legal matters?  Does it turn on their post (e.g., a Vice-President 
> who takes advantage of his legal knowledge in helping the President 
> make decisions vs. someone whose title is General Counsel and whose 
> job is to give legal advice)?  Really, this seems to likely be a 
> question on which there's a fairly definite answer, whether in Utah or 
> more generally as part of generally understood multistate professional 
> responsibility law.  Now if we could only someone who can give us that 
> answer -- and for free . . . .
>  
>     Eugene
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Mark Tushnet [mailto:tushnet at law.georgetown.edu]
>     Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 10:12 AM
>     To: Volokh, Eugene
>     Cc: conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
>     Subject: Re: Bush nominee story
>
>     From what's in the press, I would think the burden has shifted to
>     those who would contend that a person serving as general counsel
>     to a university in Utah for several years and who did not have a
>     Utah law license was *not* "practicing law without a license in
>     Utah."  (I would think that the "closely associate yourself with
>     someone with a Utah license" advice might work generally if the
>     association were with outside counsel, and probably would work as
>     an interim measure pending Griffith's acquiring a Utah license in
>     a timely manner -- which is why, I assume, it seems to have been
>     coupled with the "take the bar exam" advice.)
>
>     Volokh, Eugene wrote:
>
>>	But the question, I take it, is whether this violates the rules.
>>Does it?
>>
>>	Eugene
>>
>>
>>
>>Mark Tushnet writes:
>>
>>  
>>
>>>1.  Do any of those distinguished academic colleagues 
>>>practice law?  (I 
>>>don't.)  2.  I thought that judges were supposed to follow 
>>>the rules -- 
>>>or, to put it slightly differently, that there was something 
>>>important 
>>>in ensuring that those who make the laws are subject to them as well.
>>>
>>>As far as I can tell from the story, Griffith first let his 
>>>membership 
>>>in the DC bar lapse because of negligence (in the first instance) by 
>>>someone at his law firm, who was supposed to ensure that 
>>>every lawyer's 
>>>membership was renewed.  Then, he moved to Utah and 
>>>discovered that he 
>>>couldn't be waived into the Utah bar because he hadn't been a 
>>>member in 
>>>good standing of the DC bar for the requisite period.  He was advised 
>>>(a) to take the Utah bar exam, for which he registered (but which he 
>>>then did not take), and (b) to "closely associate" himself 
>>>with a member 
>>>of the Utah bar, which he appears to have done (in some 
>>>sense) by having 
>>>members of the Utah bar as his subordinates in the general counsel's 
>>>office.  I'll give him a pass on the DC bar problem, while 
>>>noting that 
>>>my wife has never had a problem keeping her membership in the 
>>>Wisconsin 
>>>bar for the twenty-odd years we've been out of Wisconsin.  
>>>But I have to 
>>>say that his behavior in Utah seems to me to reflect a view 
>>>that rules 
>>>are made for other people, not for him.
>>>    
>>>
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>>

-- 
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, OK   74104-3189

918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)

paul-finkelman at utulsa.edu


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