Legal Question in Family Law in California

A case is not "assigned" "from" a state. A case is filed and proceedings are held in a court, and that court is a part of the government of some state, unless it is proceeding in a United States District Court. For an attorney to represent clients in any court, the government and the courts require that they be licensed to practice in that court. So if you use an attorney, you must have an attorney who is licensed to practice in the court where the case is pending. Most attorneys are licensed only in the state where they have their office, but are licensed to appear in all the state's courts, and usually get licensed to practice in the U.S. District Courts of that state too. However, a sizeable minority of attorneys are licensed to practice in more than one state, and/or more than one U.S. District Court. So if you find an attorney from, say Nevada, who has also become licensed in California, that attorney could appear in California casese as well as Nevada cases, even if his only office was in Reno.

You have to have an attorney who is licensed to practice law in the state where your case is filed. Attorneys are not allowed to practice law in states where they are not admitted.

I would quickly add that the only exception to what I stated above is when an attorney appears in a matter in a state that he or she is not admitted through what is known at "pro hac vice." That requires court approval and association with an attorney licensed to practice law in that state.