Legal Question in Business Law in California

A California lawyer may advise Delaware corporation, if the lawyer has knowledge of the applicable law. My office, in California, advises may Delaware corporations, as well as corporations that are incorporated in several other states.

A California lawyer may not, however, represent a corporation in litigation, in another state, unless the lawyer has taken steps to get approval for an appearance "pro hac vice." In a nutshell, a California attorney may obtain permission to represent a client in another state for a particular matter, if the attorney applies for permission and follows the necessary procedures.

I represent many Delaware corporations. I even represent corporations from foreign countries. When non-litigation matters arise, I advise the client based on my knowledge of the applicable law. When litigation arises in California, I represent the client. When litigation arises, outside of California, I either arrange for an attorney from that state or country to represent my client or I obtain permission to represent the client.

It is quite common for business attorneys to do this. I have represented clients in cases, throughout the U.S. and in the Carribbean, Europe, and Asia.

If you have further questions, contact me. You can get a little idea of my firm's practice through the (as yet incomplete) website: BusinessAttorney.us

A company's business dealings in California are governed by California law, regardless of where the company is headquartered. California lawyers probably can't give competent advice to a Delaware corporation about Delaware law, but they are competent to advise it about California law. They are also competent to advise it about many federal matters. They don't need to know Delaware law in order to do this, nor do they need to be admitted in that state.

If they have no knowledge of the law they are advising on, that is simply malpractice. You don't need much more reason than that against doing it. You should not, however, confuse not being admitted in Deleware with having no knowledge of Deleware law. The legal right to practice law is based on physical location, not jurisdiction of the substantive law. So it is not illegal for a California lawyer working in California to advise on the law of another state, if they are competent to do so based on their general knowledge of law and sufficient research to be knowledgeable about the law in question.

Whether representation is proper depends not upon the state of the client's incorporation, but upon the jurisdiction over the subject matter, or the applicable body of law. I can, for example, represent individuals in California courts even though the individuals were born and reside in New York, or Sweden. Similarly, California lawyers may, do, and in fact should represent Delaware corporations in matters before the California courts or which likely would involve California law or California jurisdiction if ever they did go to litigation.