National Ass'n for Advancement of Multijurisdiction Practice v. Roberts

180 F. Supp. 3d 46, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176948, 2015 WL 10459071
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedDecember 31, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 13-01963-NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 180 F. Supp. 3d 46 (National Ass'n for Advancement of Multijurisdiction Practice v. Roberts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Ass'n for Advancement of Multijurisdiction Practice v. Roberts, 180 F. Supp. 3d 46, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176948, 2015 WL 10459071 (D.D.C. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

GORTON, District Judge

This case involves allegations that Local Rule 83.8(a)(2) of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (“D.D.C.”) violates federal statutory and constitutional law in requiring certain attorneys, as a condition of bar admission and continuing membership, to be active members in good standing of the Bar of the states in which they maintain their principal law offices.

Pending before this Court are defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint and plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, defendants’ motion to dismiss will be allowed and plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment will be denied.

I. Background

A. Challenged rule

Plaintiffs contest the statutory and constitutional validity of D.D.C. Local Rule 83.8(a) which provides that:

Admission to and continuing membership in the Bar of this Court are limited to:
(1) attorneys who are active members in good standing in the District of Columbia Bar; or
(2) attorneys who are active members in good standing of the Bar of any state in which they maintain their principal laio office; or
(3) in-house attorneys who are active members in good standing of the Bar of any state and who are authorized to provide legal advice in the state in which they are employed by their organization client.

D.D.C. R. 83.8(a)(emphasis added). Specifically, plaintiffs object to the “principal law office” provision in D.D.C. Rule 83.8(a)(2) and seek to have that restriction removed from the rule.

B. Parties

Plaintiff National Association for the Advancement of Multijurisdiction Practice (“NAAMJP”) is a California public benefit corporation that

engage[s] in interstate commerce and advocacy throughout the United States for the purpose of improving the legal profession, by petitioning for admission on motion in the dwindling minority of jurisdictions that have not yet adopted the [American Bar Association’s] recommendations for reciprocal admission for all lawyers.

NAAMJP claims that the challenged rule prevents its members from joining the D.D.C. Bar.

Plaintiff Jose Jehuda Garcia (“Garcia”) is a member of NAAMJP and an attorney who is admitted to, and in good standing of, the Bar of the New Mexico Supreme Court. He asserts that he is injured by the “principal law office” provision of the rule.

Plaintiff Marinna L. Callaway (“Calla-way”) is a member of NAAMJP and an attorney who practices in California. She contends that she is “categorically disqualified” from admission to the D.D.C. Bar under the rule because her principal law office is located in “California, a state which refuses her admission.” She submits that she would apply for admission to the D.D.C. Bar if defendants were to remove the “principal law office” provision from its rule.

Plaintiff Herbert Howard Detrick, II (“Detrick”) is an attorney admitted to, and [53]*53in good standing of, the bars of several state and federal courts, including the Supreme Courts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey. He alleges that he has moved between states several times and that his principal law office is currently located in Zurich, Switzerland. Detrick proclaims that he has

essentially wasted tens of thousands of dollars and hours in preparing to take repetitive state bar exams and waiting for his results.

He asserts that he is injured by the existing rule and that he would apply for admission to the D.D.C. Bar if defendants were to remove the “principal law office” provision from the rule.

The remaining plaintiff, “Patent Lawyer Doe,” is an unnamed member of NAAMJP and a patent lawyer who claims that he is injured by the rule because he is not admitted in the state where his principal law office is located and thus is precluded from admission to the D.D.C. Bar.

Defendants are 1) the Chief Judge and thirteen active United States District Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia at the time of the filing of the complaint and 2) the United States Attorney General at the time of the filing of the complaint. Plaintiffs assert claims against defendants in their official capacities.

C. Procedural history

In December, 2013, plaintiffs filed a complaint in the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia claiming that the then-existing D.D.C. Local Rule 83.8(a)(2), which contained a prior version of the “principal law office” provision in conjunction with a reciprocity requirement, violated 1) the Rules Enabling Acts of 28 U.S.C. §§ 2071 and 2072, 2) the Supremacy Clause, 3) the First Amendment rights to free speech, free association and petition and 4) the Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process. The case was initially assigned to D.D.C. United States Senior District Judge Thomas F Hogan.

In March, 2014, Judge Hogan allowed defendants’ motion to stay the case until defendants voted on a proposal by the District Court’s Rules Committee to remove the reciprocity requirement from the D.D.C. Local Rules. In June, 2014, defendants voted to approve the amended version of D.D.C. Local Rule 83.8(a)(2) that plaintiffs now challenge.

In July, 2014, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint asserting that the “principal law office” provision of D.D.C. Local Rule 83.8(a)(2) violated 1) the Rules Enabling Acts of 28 U.S.C. §§ 2071 and 2072 (Count 1), 2) the Supremacy Clause (Count 2), 3) the First Amendment rights to free speech, free association and petition (Count 3 and 4) the Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process (Counts 4 and 5). Plaintiffs seek a) an order declaring the “principal law office” provision of D.D.C. Local Rule 83.8(a)(2) unconstitutional, b) an injunction against its enforcement and c) an order declaring that the D.D.C. Local Rules shall provide

general bar admission privileges to all sister-state attorneys admitted to the highest court of any state.

Shortly thereafter, Judge Hogan allowed a joint motion of the parties to stay the case pending resolution of plaintiffs’ motion to transfer the instant action and related actions in other district courts to the United States Judicial Panel on Multidis-trict Litigation as one consolidated case. The motion to transfer was denied and, in November, 2014, Judge Hogan, upon con[54]*54sideration of plaintiffs’ motion for recusal, plaintiffs’ affidavit of bias and defendants’ response, voluntarily recused himself “to further the fair administration of justice in this case.” The case was randomly reassigned to D.D.C. United States Senior District Judge Randolph D. Moss.

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180 F. Supp. 3d 46, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176948, 2015 WL 10459071, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-assn-for-advancement-of-multijurisdiction-practice-v-roberts-dcd-2015.