Case Title: In Re: Amendments To The Rules Regulating The Florida Bar 10-9.1 (Procedures For Issuance of Advisory Opinions on The Unlicensed Practice of Law)

Citation: 

Docket Number: SC11-649

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 2012-01-26T00:00:00Z

Document:
Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
____________ 
 
No. SC11-649 
____________ 
 
 
IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES REGULATING 
THE FLORIDA BAR—10-9.1 (PROCEDURES FOR ISSUANCE OF 
ADVISORY OPINIONS ON THE UNLICENSED PRACTICE OF LAW). 
 
[January 26, 2012] 
 
PER CURIAM. 
This matter is before the Court on the petition of The Florida Bar proposing 
amendments to the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar.  See R. Regulating Fla. Bar 
1-12.1.  We have jurisdiction.  See art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. 
The petition proposes amendments to existing Rule Regulating the Florida 
Bar 10-9.1, ―Procedures for Issuance of Advisory Opinions on the Unlicensed 
Practice of Law.‖  The Board of Governors approved the petition.  Formal notice 
of the proposed amendments was published in the January 1, 2011, issue of The 
Florida Bar News.  On April 1, 2011, the Bar filed the proposed amendments with 
the Court.  One comment was filed with the Court. 
Rule 10-9.1 currently prohibits the Standing Committee on Unlicensed 
Practice of Law (Committee) from issuing an advisory opinion with respect to any 
 
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case or controversy pending in a Florida court or tribunal.  The Court recently 
noted that limitation in Goldberg v. Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., 35 So. 3d 905, 908 
(Fla. 2010). 
In Merrill Lynch, the petitioners brought a class action suit to recover 
document preparation fees charged by Merrill Lynch for services performed by 
clerical personnel in the processing of mortgage loans.  The petitioners sought to 
recover the fees, claiming that the respondent had engaged in the unlicensed 
practice of law.  However, as this Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine 
whether an act constitutes the unlicensed practice of law and the conduct in 
question had not been previously found to constitute the unlicensed practice of law, 
the Court affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss the complaints for failure 
to state a cause of action.  A claimant ―must allege as an essential element of any 
cause of action premised on the unauthorized practice of law that this Court has 
ruled the activities are the unauthorized practice of law.‖  Id. at 907. 
For example, if the actions complained of have been ruled on 
by this Court, then a plaintiff may be able to state a cause of action 
with proper pleading, even though the defendant accused of the 
unauthorized practice of law has not been subject to a Florida Bar 
proceeding.  However, a plaintiff will not be able to state a cause of 
action premised on the unauthorized practice of law on a case of first 
impression (where this Court has not ruled on the actions at issue).  In 
those cases, the pleading may be dismissed without prejudice or the 
action may be stayed until a determination from this Court pursuant to 
the advisory opinion procedures of rule 10-9.1 or the complaint and 
injunctive relief procedures of rules 10-5, 10-6, and 10-7 of the Rules 
Regulating the Florida Bar.  See generally E. Air Lines, Inc. v. Mobile 
 
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Oil Corp., 403 F. Supp. 757 (S.D. Fla. 1975) (granting a stay to permit 
regulatory agency to make a final determination of threshold 
questions arising under agency’s regulations and expertise); see also 
Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140, comment (1967) (―In the event a motion to 
dismiss is granted, the unsuccessful party may seek leave of the court 
to file an amended pleading in which the defects of the dismissed 
pleading may be supplied by additional allegations.‖). 
Additionally, there may be cases in which this Court has 
previously determined that the conduct at issue is the practice of law, 
but the defendant believes its identity is relevant to the determination 
of whether the conduct is actually the unauthorized practice of law.  
See Fla. Bar re Advisory Opinion—Nonlawyer Preparation of & 
Representation of Landlord in Uncontested Residential Evictions, 627 
So. 2d 485 (Fla. 1993) (stating that it was the unlicensed practice of 
law for a nonlawyer to draft and file the complaint and motion and 
obtain the final judgment and writ of possession but authorizing 
property managers to conduct these activities); Fla. Bar re Advisory 
Opinion HRS Nonlawyer Counselor, 518 So. 2d 1270 (Fla. 1988) 
(temporarily authorizing lay counselors from the Department of 
Health and Rehabilitative Services to engage in conduct that this 
Court had previously recognized as the practice of law).  In such 
cases, the defendant is also free to seek a stay of the action in the 
circuit court while obtaining an advisory opinion from The Florida 
Bar or to seek a dismissal without prejudice. 
Id. at 908.  Because current rule 10-9.1 prohibits the Committee from issuing an 
advisory opinion in a pending case or controversy, the Court directed The Florida 
Bar to propose a rule change ―according to this opinion‖ that would allow the 
Committee to render a formal advisory opinion for a pending case or controversy 
when the Court has not previously determined whether the activity is the 
unlicensed practice of law.  Id. 
In response to the Court’s direction, the Bar submitted this petition to amend 
the procedures provided in rule 10-9.1 regarding the issuance of advisory opinions 
 
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in unlicensed practice of law cases.  The Bar’s proposals would require the 
Committee to issue a formal advisory opinion, despite a pending case or 
controversy, under the circumstances described by the Court in Merrill Lynch. 
Florida Bar member Timothy P. Chinaris filed comments opposing the Bar’s 
proposal to amend rule 10-9.1(c).  He asserts that the Bar’s proposed language 
does not fully comply with the Court’s directive in Merrill Lynch because it would 
only authorize the Committee to issue advisory opinions to plaintiffs.  We agree.  
In Merrill Lynch, we expressly recognized that either a plaintiff or a defendant in a 
civil action for damages allegedly caused by the unlicensed practice of law should 
be able to obtain an advisory opinion from the Committee under appropriate 
circumstances.  We stated that ―there may be cases in which this Court has 
previously determined that the conduct at issue is the practice of law, but the 
defendant believes its identity is relevant to the determination of whether the 
conduct is actually the unauthorized practice of law.‖  Id. at 908 (emphasis added).  
In such situations, ―the defendant is also free to seek . . . an advisory opinion from 
The Florida Bar.‖  Id. (emphasis added).  Thus, Mr. Chinaris has suggested 
revisions to the Bar’s proposal for subdivision (c) of the rule, which would include 
both plaintiffs and defendants.  In response, the Bar states that it supports these 
suggested revisions. 
 
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After considering the petition and the comment, the Court adopts the 
amendments to rule 10-9.1 with Mr. Chinaris’s proposed modifications.  The 
resulting amendments would provide parties in certain situations, who have 
brought a civil suit alleging the unlicensed practice of law, with a mechanism to 
request an advisory opinion. 
Accordingly, the Court adopts the amendments to Rule Regulating the 
Florida Bar 10-9.1 as set forth in the appendix to this opinion.  Deletions are 
indicated by struck-through type, and new language is indicated by underscoring.  
The amendments shall become effective on April 1, 2012, at 12:01 a.m. 
It is so ordered. 
CANADY, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, 
and PERRY, JJ., concur. 
 
THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE 
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS. 
 
Original Proceedings – Rules Regulating The Florida Bar 
 
John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director, Elizabeth Clark Tarbert, Ethics Counsel, 
and Lori S. Holcomb, UPL Counsel, The Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida, and 
Nancy Wood Gregoire, Chair, Rules Committee, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 
 
 
for Petitioner 
 
Timothy P. Chinaris, Montgomery, Alabama, 
 
 
Responding with comments 
 
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APPENDIX 
 
RULES REGULATING THE FLORIDA BAR 
 
CHAPTER 10.  RULES GOVERNING THE INVESTIGATION AND 
PROSECUTION OF THE UNLICENSED PRACTICE OF LAW 
 
RULE 10-9.1 PROCEDURES FOR ISSUANCE OF ADVISORY OPINIONS 
ON THE UNLICENSED PRACTICE OF LAW 
 
(a) – (b) [No change] 
 
(c) Limitations on Opinions.  No opinion shall be rendered with respect to 
any case or controversy pending in any court or tribunal in this jurisdiction and no 
informal opinion shall be issued except as provided in rule 10-9.1(g)(1).  However, 
the committee shall issue a formal advisory opinion under circumstances described 
by the court in Harold Goldberg v. Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation, 35 So. 3d 
905 (Fla. 2010), when the petitioner is a party to a lawsuit and that suit has been 
stayed or voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. 
 
(d) – (e) [No change] 
 
(f) Notice, Appearance, and Service. 
 
(1) At least 30 days in advance of the committee meeting at which a 
hearing is to be held with respect to a potential advisory opinion, the 
committee shall give public notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing, 
stateprovide a general description of the subject matter of the request and the 
bar website and address where a full copy of the question presented can be 
obtained, and invite written comments on the question.  On the announced 
date the committee shall hold a public hearing at which any person affected 
shall be entitled to present oral testimony and be represented by counsel.  Oral 
testimony by other persons may be allowed by the committee at its discretion.  
At the time of or prior to the hearing any other person shall be entitled to file 
written testimony on the issue before the committee.  Additional procedures 
not inconsistent with this rule may be adopted by the committee. 
 
(2) – (3) [No change] 
 
(g) [No change]