Milwaukee World is reporting that some companies located there may have gotten themselves into hot water over in-house counsel licensure issues:
"It would be any CEO’s nightmare: Your General Counsel, entrusted with the in-house legal department of your firm, tells you that you never really had a legal attorney-client privilege agreement, and every negotiation you’ve undertaken must therefore be revealed to your adversaries, who could hold you in contempt. Your attorney could face sanctions for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, and disqualification all because he or she, for whatever reason, never got a Wisconsin license despite working for years from a Wisconsin office. A far fetched scenario? Hardly, according to a Milwaukeeworld.com investigation."
Link: MilwaukeeWorld: UNLICENSED CORPORATION LAWYERS FOUND.
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Forgive the repetition but let me repeat what I wrote on another site:
A key point to note: the “high stakes” to which Mr. Horne refers is the loss of the attorney client privilege. But, I believe case law and sound public policy support the distinction between those situations where someone is not licensed at all and an attorney who is admitted in another state. This is no way obviates the need for attorneys to follow the admission and licensing rules in the state where they practice; but, we should be nuanced and careful in our discussion about the impact on the privilege so we do not cause its further diminishment.
Frederick J. Krebs
President
Association of Corporate Counsel