Appearance of Non-Lawyer at Calendar Call
Adopted: July 27, 2001
Opinion rules that a lawyer may have a non-lawyer employee deliver a message to a court holding calendar call, if the lawyer is unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict with another court or other legitimate reason.
Inquiry:
Attorney A is a criminal defense lawyer in a solo practice. He frequently has cases on the calendar simultaneously in juvenile court, district court, superior court, and administrative court. When a client's case is in court for a routine calendar call or an administrative status calendar call, Attorney A would like to send a non-lawyer member of his staff to the hearing to report to the court on his whereabouts and scheduling conflict. May Attorney A do so without violating the prohibition on assisting the unauthorized practice of law?
Opinion:
Yes, provided the nonlawyer employee is merely providing the court with information and does not request or argue for a particular action by the court.
Rule 5.5(b) prohibits a lawyer from assisting a person who is not a member of the bar in the performance of any activity that constitutes the unauthorized practice of law. G.S. § 1-11 provides that, "A party may appear either in person or by attorney in actions or proceedings in which he is interested." G.S. §84-4 permits only licensed North Carolina lawyers "to appear as attorney or counselor at law in any action or proceeding before any judicial body." See also G.S. §§84-2.1, 84-4, and 84-36. Nevertheless, when a lawyer has a conflicting commitment to appear in another court or when another legitimate conflict prohibits a lawyer's appearance in court for a client, the lawyer may send a nonlawyer employee to the court to inform the court of the situation. This is not assisting in the unauthorized practice of law. In response to information about a lawyer's availability, the court may, on its own motion, determine that a continuance or other action is appropriate. A lawyer should rely on a nonlawyer to notify the court of a scheduling conflict only when necessary. Moreover, Rule 5.3 requires a lawyer who supervises a non-lawyer assistant to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the non-lawyer's conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer. If a nonlawyer is present in court to provide information about the lawyer's scheduling conflict, the duty of supervision includes insuring that the assistant complies with court rules on decorum and attire. Endnote 1. See People v. Alexander , 202 N.E. 2d 841 (Appellate Court of IL. 1964): "We agree with the trial judge that clerks should not be permitted to make motions or participate in other proceedings which can be considered as 'managing' the litigation. However, if apprising the court of an employer's engagement or inability to be present constitutes the making of a motion, we must hold that clerks may make such motions...without being guilty of the unauthorized practice of law.