Ethics
Nonlawyers can partly own law firms in Puerto Rico under revised ethics rules
Puerto Rico has enacted new lawyer ethics rules that allow nonlawyers to have an ownership interest in law firms. (Image from Shutterstock)
Puerto Rico has enacted new lawyer ethics rules that allow nonlawyers to have an ownership interest in law firms, a departure from Model Rule 5.4 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct on professional independence.
Although Puerto Rico’s new ethics rules are modeled on the ABA Model Rules, the provision allowing nonlawyer ownership of firms is a key change, the LawSites blog reports.
Nonlawyers would not be allowed to own more than 49% of the shares in the law offices, according to a ChatGPT translation of the rule published by LawSites.
The rule also states that law offices partly owned by nonlawyers must be operated by lawyers licensed in Puerto Rico. The nonlawyers cannot interfere with lawyers’ independent professional judgment and cannot provide services to the law offices.
The Puerto Rico Supreme Court, which adopted the ethics rule, plans to assess its effectiveness after three years.
The only other jurisdictions that allow nonlawyer ownership of firms are Arizona and the District of Columbia, LawSites reports. Utah also allows nonlawyer ownership but only under the restrictions of its regulatory sandbox program.
See also:
Following decades of discourse on nonlawyer legal services, questions of motives continue
How ethics reforms in Arizona led to LegalZoom’s law firm
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