Practice in Virginia by a Non-Lawyer Providing
Legal Advice to Corporate Employer.

It is not the unauthorized practice of law for a corporate attorney who is licensed in a foreign jurisdiction, but who has his office in Virginia, to provide legal advice to his regular corporate employer. The definition of the practice of law does not encompass one who undertakes to advise his regular employer in matters involving the application of legal principles to facts or purposes or desires. [Rules of the Virginia Supreme Court, Part 6, § I(A)(1)]

It is the unauthorized practice of law for such a non-lawyer regularly employed by a corporation to engage in activities involving the examination of witnesses, the preparation and filing of briefs or pleadings or the presenting of legal conclusions when appearing on behalf of his employer before Virginia courts and all other Virginia adjudicatory bodies. [UPR 1-101(B)]

Committee Opinion
February 9, 1987