A lawyer admitted and living in Connecticut wants to become house counsel to a Silicon Valley social media platform company, and to work solely from Connecticut while doing so. A Connecticut lawyer wishes to be counsel to a national trade organization and deal with the president, the board chair and the treasurer who live respectively in Washington State, Illinois and Maine. The trade organization is incorporated in New Jersey but has no office, staff or presence there; though some members of the organization do live in New Jersey. The organization has annual meetings in various venues, sometimes on cruise ships, but since COVID has been meeting only on Zoom. A Connecticut accountant who works with small businesses wants to expand her work by counselling and representing her clients in CHRO and other state regulatory matters. A Connecticut municipality wants to set up a regulatory board on a consumer-facing issue and wishes to permit lay advocates to coach, guide and represent indigent applicants.

What do all these cases have in common? They all arise out of the complicated world of unauthorized practice of law. Unauthorized practice, (UPL), is a quirky regime that attempts to balance the competing interests of state courts seeking to protect themselves and the public from incompetent practitioners; state, local and specialty bars which have historically controlled the legal services market and view out-of-state or unlicensed participants as unfamiliar with Connecticut law or a danger to the public; lawyers and law firms whose practices and clients transcend geographical boundaries; and businesses who want to avoid getting crossways with the law without hiring a lawyer in every state where they have a presence or a customer.