Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Sure. A licensed attorney can conduct any legal practice they choose right from the moment they are sworn in. There are rules requiring an attorney to act competently, and not to do legal work that they do not have the necessary skills or knowledge to do, but they are even allowed to figure it out as they go along, as long as they acquire the skills and knowledge ahead of each step in the representation so as to do everything properly. And since it sounds like you are not the client, I should also point out that those obligations only run to the client. Even if the attorney is totally unqualified to do the work and utterly commits malpractice by failing to learn the law, procedure and other things required to do the work as they go along, only the client has any right to complain.

I agree with Mr. McCormick, but I don't think that is the thrust of the question. The fact that a lawyer is retained for one type of matter for a client does not mean that the lawyer is bound to do other legal work for that client. Many attorneys will specify in their written retainer agreements what the scope of the legal work is that they have been hired to do, and they will require a separate agreement if the client wants them to do something else.