Mission Statement of the New Jersey CourtsWe are an independent branch of government constitutionally entrusted with the fair and just resolution of disputes in order to preserve the rule of law and to protect the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States and this State.
The crisis of legal services - the high cost of legal representation - is perhaps most widely felt in matrimonial law. With house values often underwater and the unemployment rate at 10% - and higher for males 20 -50 - more people cannot afford lawyers. One response is limited scope representation, often called "unbundling legal services". Such efforts are designed to cut costs. One way is for lawyers to cut overhead - such as via a "virtual office". There you can rent space by the hour to meet a client by appointment, perhaps receive mail and phone calls for forwarding, where a receptionist could take a message.
But in response to an inquiry the New Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics and its Attorney Advertising Committee have found in Opinion 718 that a virtual office is verboten if it is the lawyer's only office. The Committee had little choice. It doesn't make the rules. The Supreme Court does. And it has spoken. The Court requires that a New Jersey attorney maintain a bona fide office for the practice of law:
a bona fide office is a place where clients are met, files are kept, the telephone is answered, mail is received and the attorney or a responsible person acting on the attorney’s behalf can be reached in person and by telephone during normal business hours to answer questions posed by the courts, clients or adversaries and to ensure that competent advice from the attorney can be obtained within a reasonable period of time. [R. 1:21-1(a).]
The Committees sought to ease the way for the traditional sole practitioner, saying an
"attorney who is out of the office during normal business hours does not violate the bona fide office rule provided the absence from the office is occasional and the attorney is otherwise reachable by telephone, email, or the like. If the attorney is regularly out of the office during normal business hours, then a responsible person must be present at the office."
A lawyer who practices from his or her home - even occasionally such as full-time academic or one in another line of work might do - can be found there - at least at night. But there would be no one present during normal business hours. The requirement that "responsible person must be present at the office" is a roadblock to the unbundling of legal services.
The Committees explain that the purpose of the bona fide office rule is "to ensure that attorneys are available and can be found by clients, courts, and adversaries." True. But a fuller dose of candor would acknowledge that the Rule is more fully explained by the determined effort of the organized bar in New Jersey - and a compliant Supreme Court - to retard the invasion of New Jersey practice by New York and Philadelphia-based law firms with only "virtual" presences in New Jersey.
The New Jersey Supreme Court is very protectionist. It has refused New York's standing offer to admit New Jersey attorneys in good standing without taking the bar exam - if only New Jersey will reciprocate. Until the New Jersey Supreme Court changes its tune and its rules its advisory committees will be unable to adapt the rules of practice to the emerging world of unbundled legal services, and attorneys available via iPhone 24/7.
