As millions of people around the world observe stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, many attorneys have found it relatively easy to stay connected with professional colleagues through phone calls, emails, texts, videoconferencing and cloud computing technology.

At the same time, an anachronistic century-old statute, New York Judiciary Law section 470, requires attorneys based outside the state but licensed to practice within its boundaries to have a physical "bricks-and-mortar" office here.

Given what we have learned about staying connected through technology, the obsolescence of §470 is more obvious than ever. Lawyers are meeting with clients and staff, conducting research and collaborating on complex documents with co-workers—all from their home offices. In New York State, they are even completing notarization of documents and making court appearances on "essential" matters via videoconference.

Legislation introduced this month in the state Assembly would repeal §470. The bill, A.10425, is sponsored by Assemblyman David Weprin and matches legislation introduced last year by State Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Hoylman. Nearly 25% of New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) members reside or practice outside the state and we strongly support this measure.

When §470 was enacted in 1909, the law made sense. There was concern that without a physical office in the state, papers could not easily be served on out-of-state lawyers who were nonetheless duly admitted to practice in New York. Technology has rendered these concerns obsolete, and so has subsequent law. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules §2103 provides a mechanism for service outside New York State.

What's more, a lawyer admitted in New York who resides in the state is not required to have a bricks-and-mortar office. He or she is deemed perfectly able to provide services to clients without such an office. But a lawyer who lives just across the state line in Connecticut—or New Jersey, or Massachusetts, or Vermont, or Pennsylvania—is deemed to be unable to do the same.

New York law is the global gold standard, and admission to practice in New York is highly valued. Each year, the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department, based in Albany, admits lawyers from across the United States and around the world. These lawyers pass the New York bar examination at a fee of $250 or $750 if the applicant studies law in a foreign country, pay a biennial registration fee of $375, and comply with mandatory continuing legal education requirements.

Yet every year, lawyers from other states and countries admitted in New York are stymied from utilizing their New York law license by section 470, and as a result resign from the New York bar, depriving the state of much-needed revenue.

In a digital era where attorneys across the street and around the world are just a click away on their computer or smart phone, an antiquated rule from over a century ago requiring a physical office in the state no longer serves any purpose.

Henry M. Greenberg is president of the New York State Bar Association.