Can I File a New York Lawsuit If I Am Not Admitted in New York?

The Short Answer

An attorney who is admitted in another state, and not in New York, cannot commence a New York action as counsel of record. Signing the summons and complaint, e-filing it, and taking the index number are all acts that New York reserves to attorneys admitted here. Pro hac vice admission fixes the problem, but it cannot fix it first, because the admission is granted in a case that already exists and the motion seeking it has to be filed by someone who can already file.

The Two Statutes That Control

New York does not leave this to custom. Two sections of the Judiciary Law say it directly, and they reach different conduct.

Judiciary Law § 478

Section 478 makes it unlawful for any natural person to practice or appear as an attorney-at-law for a person other than himself or herself in a court of record in this state without having first been duly and regularly licensed and admitted to practice law in the courts of record of this state, and without having taken the constitutional oath. The prohibition is not limited to standing up in a courtroom. It covers holding yourself out as entitled to practice, and it covers furnishing attorneys or counsel to render legal services.

Judiciary Law § 484

Section 484 comes at the same conduct from the money side. No natural person may ask or receive, directly or indirectly, compensation for appearing for another person as attorney in any court, or for preparing pleadings of any kind in any action brought before any court of record in this state, unless that person has been regularly admitted to practice in the courts of record of the state. A complaint is a pleading. Drafting it for a fee, for a New York action, is inside the statute.

Read together, the two sections cover the whole of what commencing a lawsuit involves: the appearance, the pleading, and the fee. There is no version of filing a New York complaint as counsel of record that sits outside both of them.

The Pro Hac Vice Carve-Out Is Written in the Past Tense

Both statutes carve out pro hac vice attorneys, and the wording of the carve-out is the whole point. Each one exempts an attorney and counselor-at-law or the equivalent who is admitted to the bar in another state, territory, district, or foreign country and who has been admitted to practice pro hac vice in the State of New York within the limitations prescribed in the rules of the Court of Appeals.

"Has been admitted" is a completed act. The exemption protects an attorney after the court grants the motion. It says nothing about the period before the motion is granted, which is exactly the period in which the complaint has to be signed, the index number purchased, and the motion itself filed. An out-of-state attorney who files first and moves second is not covered by the carve-out at the moment that matters.

That reading is not a technicality invented by counsel who want the work. It is the ordinary meaning of the tense the Legislature used, and it lines up with how the courts and the clerks actually run the process.

The E-Filing System Closes the Same Door

Most New York civil matters in Supreme Court are e-filed through the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system, known as NYSCEF. Filing requires an account, and an account is tied to an attorney the system recognizes.

The Unified Court System publishes a separate account type for out-of-state attorneys admitted pro hac vice. Creating one requires the attorney to supply the order granting pro hac vice admission, and the NYSCEF Resource Center confirms the case-specific admission before that account can file in the matter. The account follows the order. The order does not follow the account.

So the sequence an out-of-state attorney would like to run, file the case, then move for admission, then keep filing, breaks at the first step. There is no account to file with, and there is no order to get one with, because the order is granted in a case that has not been commenced.

What You Can Do Before Admission

The statutes reach appearing, pleading, and charging for it. They do not convert every hour of preparatory work into unauthorized practice. In the ordinary case, an out-of-state attorney can do the following while New York counsel handles the filing:

• Investigate the claim, interview the client, and gather the documents.
• Research the substantive law and develop the theory of the case.
• Draft the pleading and the supporting papers for New York counsel to review, revise, and sign.
• Prepare the papers supporting your own pro hac vice admission, including your declaration and your certificate of good standing.
• Advise your client on strategy, settlement posture, and the economics of the case.

What you cannot do is sign the pleading as counsel of record, file it, enter an appearance, argue the motion, or take a fee for appearing as an attorney in a New York court before the order granting admission is signed. The line is the court, not the work.

A related question comes up constantly and is worth separating out: whether you can appear at a conference or a deposition in a pending New York case without admission. That is answered on our page on appearing in New York without pro hac vice. This page is about getting the case started. That one is about what happens once it is.

How the Sequence Actually Runs

When our office is engaged as New York counsel on a case that has not been commenced, the order of operations is straightforward:

1. We review the draft pleading, revise it to New York practice, and satisfy ourselves that the claims and the venue are sound. Our signature is our own certification, so this step is real.
2. We commence the action, purchase the index number, and appear as attorney of record. In New York County Supreme Court, Kings County Supreme Court, and the other e-filing counties, that happens on NYSCEF.
3. We move for your pro hac vice admission under the rule of the Court of Appeals governing admission of out-of-state attorneys, supported by your declaration and your certificate of good standing. If a deadline makes the normal motion schedule too slow, the motion can go by order to show cause.
4. Once the order is signed, you open your NYSCEF pro hac vice account for the case and file in your own name.
5. We stay in as local counsel for whatever the court and the client need after that, or we step back to a monitoring role. That is your call, not ours.

Timing is the question most out-of-state attorneys ask first. Our page on how long pro hac vice takes in New York sets out the realistic range and the two things that most often add weeks to it.

Statute of Limitations Pressure

The worst version of this problem arrives with a limitations period about to run. An out-of-state attorney who assumes the case can be filed now and cleaned up later can lose the claim outright, because a filing made by a person not authorized to make it is exposed to a motion the client cannot afford to lose.

If the deadline is close, the fix is speed on the engagement, not shortcuts on the filing. New York counsel can be engaged, review the pleading, and commence the action quickly, and the pro hac vice motion can follow on its own schedule once the case exists. Commencing correctly is the part that is time-sensitive. Your admission is not.

Do not solve a limitations problem by signing a New York pleading you are not admitted to sign. Call first.

Frequently Asked Questions.

Can I file a lawsuit in New York if I am not admitted in New York?

Not as counsel of record. Judiciary Law § 478 makes it unlawful for a person who is not admitted in New York to practice or appear as an attorney for another person in a court of record in this state, and Judiciary Law § 484 bars asking or receiving compensation for preparing pleadings of any kind in an action brought before a New York court of record. Signing and filing a summons and complaint for a client falls inside both prohibitions. An attorney admitted in New York has to be counsel of record when the case is commenced.

Can I file my own pro hac vice motion in a New York state court?

In practice, no. The pro hac vice carve-outs in Judiciary Law §§ 478 and 484 are written in the past tense and protect an attorney who has already been admitted pro hac vice. They do not authorize the filing that seeks the admission. On top of that, the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system issues a pro hac vice attorney account only after the order granting admission exists. An attorney admitted in New York moves for the admission and files the motion.

Can I get a NYSCEF account without being admitted in New York?

Not a filing account for the case. The account-creation instructions published by the New York State Unified Court System require an out-of-state attorney to supply the order granting pro hac vice admission, and the NYSCEF Resource Center confirms the case-specific admission before the account can file in that matter. The order comes first, and the order comes from a motion that someone else has to file.

What can I do on a New York matter before I am admitted?

Work that does not put you before the court as counsel of record is generally available. Investigating the claim, gathering documents, drafting papers for New York counsel to review and sign, researching the law, and advising your client on strategy are ordinary preparatory work. What you cannot do is sign the pleading, file it, appear at the conference, or bill the client for appearing as an attorney in a New York court before admission.

Does this apply in federal court in New York?

The Judiciary Law sections govern the New York state courts. The Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York run their own admission rules, and the practical path for most out-of-state attorneys on a single federal matter is pro hac vice admission under the joint Local Civil Rules rather than state admission. Our SDNY and EDNY guide covers that separately.

Related: Pro Hac Vice Overview · Can I Appear Without PHV? · Do You Need New York Local Counsel? · PHV Application Guide · How Long Does PHV Take? · PHV by Order to Show Cause · PHV in SDNY and EDNY

This article is general information, not legal advice. Unauthorized practice of law questions are fact-specific. Consult New York counsel before relying on any of the general guidance here. Attorney advertising.

Have a New York Case That Needs to Be Filed?

Tell us the claim, the county, and the deadline. We will tell you what New York requires to commence it and what your pro hac vice admission will take.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson, 160 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10038. 212-233-0666.