Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Stock Transfer (Transfer Business Ownership)

A non-lawyer who did that would be engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. You are required to be admitted to the bar in the state where you are practicing to do this.

Re: Stock Transfer (Transfer Business Ownership)

With all due respect to my colleague, I believe he is incorrect.

You must be a licensed lawyer to dispense legal advice and, in some cases typically involving corporations, to represent such corporation in a litigation matter. That said, anybody can draft anything.

The value of having a lawyer draft particular documents is that (i) lawyers are charged with having specialized knowledge about things, (ii) lawyers can give legal advice to you on the nature of the content of what is being drafted and, some might say most importantly, (iii) lawyers can be held liable for malpractice.

Thus, anybody can draft anything -- a will, a contract, a stock transfer document, whatever -- but only a lawyer can give the advice necessary to enable a lay person to understand what is being drafted. And, as previously mentioned, only a lawyer can be held liable for malpractice in this regard.

The value to you, I take it you are not a lawyer, in having a lawyer do the work is simply to get valid, valuable, and reliable advice and guidance.