§ Rule 16-1.3 Activities

Codes > Florida Statutes > Rules Regulating > Chapter 16 > Rule 16-1.3

Rule 16-1.3. Activities

    (a) Rendering Legal Advice. A person certified as a foreign legal consultant under this chapter may render legal services in the state of Florida; provided, however, that such services shall:

        (1) be limited to those regarding the laws of the foreign country in which such person is admitted to practice as an attorney, counselor at law, or the equivalent;

        (2) not include any activity or any service constituting the practice of the laws of the United States, the state of Florida, or any other state, commonwealth, or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia including, but not limited to, the restrictions that such person shall not:

            (A) appear for another person as attorney in any court or before any magistrate or other judicial officer or before any federal, state, county, or municipal governmental agency, quasi-judicial, or quasi-governmental authority in the state of Florida, or prepare pleadings or any other papers in any action or proceedings brought in any such court, or before any such judicial officer, except as authorized in any rule of procedure relating to admission pro hac vice, or pursuant to administrative rule;

            (B) prepare any deed, mortgage, assignment, discharge, lease, agreement of sale, or any other instrument affecting title to real property located in the United States, or personal property located in the United States, except where the instrument affecting title to such property is governed by the law of a jurisdiction in which the foreign legal consultant is admitted to practice as an attorney, counselor at law, or the equivalent;

            (C) prepare any will or trust instrument affecting the disposition of any property located in the United States and owned by a resident thereof nor prepare any instrument relating to the administration of a decedent's estate in the United States;

            (D) prepare any instrument with respect to the marital relations, rights, or duties of a resident of the United States or the custody or care of the children of such a resident;

            (E) render professional legal advice on the law of the State of Florida, the United States, or any other state, subdivision, commonwealth, or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia (whether rendered incident to the preparation of a legal instrument or otherwise); or

            (F) render any legal services without utilizing a written retainer agreement that shall specify in bold type that the foreign legal consultant is not admitted to practice law in the state of Florida nor licensed to advise on the laws of the United States or any other state, commonwealth, territory, or the District of Columbia, unless so licensed, and that the practice of the foreign legal consultant is limited to the laws of the foreign country where such person is admitted to practice as an attorney, counselor at law, or the equivalent.

    (b) Representing Status as Member of The Florida Bar. Foreign legal consultants certified to render services under this chapter shall not represent that they are admitted to The Florida Bar or licensed as an attorney or foreign legal consultant in another state, commonwealth, territory, or the District of Columbia, or as an attorney, counselor at law, or the equivalent in a foreign country, unless so licensed. Persons certified under this chapter shall not use any title other than “Foreign Legal Consultant, Not Admitted to Practice Law in Florida,” although such person's authorized title and firm name in the foreign country in which the person is admitted to practice as an attorney, counselor at law, or the equivalent may be used if the title, firm name, and the name of the foreign country are stated together with the above-mentioned designation.

    Foreign legal consultants certified under this chapter must provide clients with a letter disclosing the extent of professional liability insurance coverage maintained by the foreign legal consultant, if any, as well as an affirmative statement advising the client that any client aggrieved by the foreign legal consultant will not have access to the Clients' Security Fund of The Florida Bar. The letter must further include the list of activities that the foreign legal consultant certified under this chapter is prohibited from engaging in, as set out in rule 16-1.3(a)(2)(A)-(F).