Preparation of Documents by a Foreign Attorney
in a Foreign Jurisdiction.

Residents of Virginia purchased a business located in Virginia. Both buyer and seller agreed that an attorney in the District of Columbia would conduct the closing. The attorney was licensed in the District of Columbia but was not admitted to practice in Virginia. The attorney prepared the documents for the closing and the closing was held at the attorney’s office in the District of Columbia. The attorney had the documents recorded in a Virginia Circuit Court.

Based on the above fact situation, the committee opines that the preparation of legal documents in the District of Columbia by an attorney licensed to practice in the District of Columbia, absent any actual activity by the attorney in Virginia, does no constitute the unauthorized practice of law in Virginia. [See UPL Op. No. 93]

Committee Opinion
December 19, 1986