What You Need to Know

• The Appellate Division upholds dismissal of a civil suit for unauthorized practice of law in New Jersey by a lawyer not admitted in the state.
• A lack of expert testimony on proximate cause between actions and damages was a fatal error for the plaintiff.
• Merely showing an attorney engaged in the unauthorized practice of law is not sufficient to raise a civil claim, the appeals court said.

A New Jersey appeals court upheld dismissal of a civil suit claiming that a New York attorney and his firm are liable for conduct that constituted the unauthorized practice of law.

P. Gregory Hess of Davidson, Dawson & Clark was not admitted in New Jersey when he visited the Garden State to help an elderly woman execute her will from her hospital bed. But a suit against Hess and his firm was properly dismissed because the plaintiff failed to present expert testimony to show that the alleged unauthorized practice was the proximate cause of his damages, an Appellate Division panel ruled.

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