New York Local Counsel for Maryland Attorneys

You are admitted in Maryland. Your case is in New York. Here is what that costs you, and what it does not have to.

You are a Maryland attorney with a New York case. The Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson serves as New York local counsel for Maryland firms and their clients, in New York Supreme Court, the Southern District, and the Eastern District. We sponsor the pro hac vice motion, we appear, and we file. Email fabramson@abramsonlegal.com or send us your case details, and we will respond the same business day.

The Situation You Are In.

Maryland firms come to New York on commercial and contract disputes, on financial-services and creditor matters, on health-care and life-sciences disputes that follow a New York counterparty, on personal-injury and product-liability matters with New York venue, and on agreements that name New York law and a New York forum.

However the case arrived, the problem is the same. You are competent to run it and you are not admitted to run it here. New York will let you in, and New York will not let you in alone.

Then there is the arithmetic. A New York compliance conference is often the shortest event on your calendar and the most expensive one on the bill. Baltimore is close enough that the trip looks cheap on paper, and it is still a working day gone for a conference that may take ten minutes. Discovery matters generate several of these, and they are scheduled around the court's convenience rather than yours. A client who is happy to pay for your judgment is rarely happy to pay for a day of your travel.

What New York Requires of a Maryland Attorney.

State court: local counsel is mandatory

In New York State Supreme Court, association with New York counsel is required. Under 22 NYCRR 520.11(c), no attorney may be admitted pro hac vice to participate in pre-trial or trial proceedings unless that attorney is associated with a member in good standing of the New York bar, and the New York attorney is the attorney of record. Your local counsel signs the pleadings and appears on the papers. That requirement is not waivable, and it is not a formality the court overlooks.

Federal court: not mandatory, and usually the right call anyway

The Southern and Eastern Districts do not categorically require a local sponsor for admission pro hac vice. What they require is a motion, a declaration, a certificate of good standing dated within 30 days, and a $200 filing fee per attorney. For a Maryland attorney the certificate has to come from the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Maryland, which is the detail covered below. The practical difficulty is what follows admission. Judges in both districts set conferences, hold argument in person, and expect counsel in the courtroom. Without New York counsel on the case, every one of those events is a trip.

The certificate that gets Maryland motions bounced

This is the one that costs Maryland firms time, and it is worth reading twice. The Southern District accepts a certificate of good standing issued by a state bar from only nine states: Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. Maryland is not one of them. A document from the Maryland State Bar Association is the wrong paper, and the motion comes back.

What the court wants is a certificate from the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Maryland, at the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building, 361 Rowe Boulevard, Fourth Floor, Annapolis, Maryland 21401. The fee is $7 either way. The fastest route is the Attorney Information System, where you request the certificate online and pay there. Maryland issues it in two forms. The version without a raised seal is available as an immediate download. The version with a raised seal is mailed to you and you get the download at the same time, so you can start the motion while the sealed original is in transit. By mail, the check is made out to the Clerk of the Supreme Court and the office needs a self-addressed stamped envelope. The Clerk's Office can be reached at 410-260-1500.

One Maryland-specific trap. The court that issues your certificate was called the Court of Appeals of Maryland until December 2022, when it was renamed the Supreme Court of Maryland. An older certificate on file in your office carries the old name. Order a new one rather than sending the old one, because the certificate has to be dated within 30 days of the filing in any event. Order it too early and it goes stale before the motion is ready; order it too late and the motion waits. On a Maryland matter we tell you the day to order it.

What you will need either way

Plan on that certificate, a declaration setting out your admissions and your disciplinary history, a sponsoring affirmation, and the court's fee. Nothing in the package needs a notary. Under CPLR 2106 in state court and 28 U.S.C. 1746 in federal court, a statement signed under penalty of perjury carries the same force as a sworn affidavit, wherever it is signed.

What We Do for Maryland Firms.

We have practiced in New York courts for 28 years, and local counsel is a service line rather than a favor we do between other matters. For a Maryland firm that means four things.

We sponsor and file the pro hac vice motion. We prepare the moving papers, tell you exactly which certificate to order and when to order it, sign as sponsoring counsel, and file through NYSCEF or CM/ECF. Admitted to both the Southern and Eastern Districts, we can sponsor in either.

We appear so that you do not have to. Compliance conferences, preliminary conferences, discovery motions, calendar calls, and status conferences are covered by our office, and you receive a written report the same day describing what the court directed and what the resulting deadlines are.

We keep the file compliant. New York's e-filing rules, part rules, and conference practice vary by county and by judge, and a rule you have never encountered is still a rule you are held to. We file, we calendar, and we tell you when something in the order does not say what it appears to say.

You keep the client and the case. We are local counsel. We do not solicit your client, and we do not take over the matter. The strategy stays with you, which is the arrangement most Maryland firms want and the one we are built for.

Email: fabramson@abramsonlegal.com | Phone: 212-233-0666 | Text: 917-686-3827

Which New York Court Your Case Is In.

Maryland matters we handle are usually in the Southern District of New York or in Supreme Court, New York or Kings County.

New York is not one court, and the differences are not cosmetic. The Southern District and the Eastern District have separate local rules and separate individual practices. Supreme Court runs county by county, and a Kings County compliance part does not operate the way a New York County differentiated case management part operates. We cover Supreme Court in all five boroughs and in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and Orange counties, along with the Southern and Eastern Districts.

Frequently Asked Questions.

Which Maryland certificate of good standing does the Southern District accept?

The one issued by the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Maryland, not one from the Maryland State Bar Association. The Southern District accepts a bar-issued certificate from only nine states, and Maryland is not among them. Request it through the Attorney Information System, pay the $7 fee, and make sure the date falls within 30 days of your filing.

Do I have to hire New York local counsel as a Maryland attorney?

In New York State Supreme Court, yes. Admission pro hac vice under 22 NYCRR 520.11(c) requires association with a New York attorney who serves as attorney of record. In the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, a local sponsor is not categorically required, but judges in both districts hold conferences and argument in person, so most out-of-state firms retain local counsel regardless.

Can I appear remotely from Maryland instead?

Sometimes, and you should not build a case plan on it. New York courts moved toward virtual appearances after 2020 and then moved back. Many parts now require counsel to be physically present, and whether a given appearance may be handled remotely is decided by the individual judge rather than by a statewide rule.

Does my Maryland certificate still say Court of Appeals of Maryland?

It may, if it was issued before December 2022. The Court of Appeals of Maryland was renamed the Supreme Court of Maryland that month. The name on an older certificate is not the real problem, because the certificate has to be dated within 30 days of your filing anyway. Order a fresh one through the Attorney Information System and the question never comes up.

Will you try to take my client?

No. Local counsel is the whole engagement. Firms send us repeat matters precisely because the first one came back to them intact, and a practice that poached clients would not get a second case from anyone.

What do you need from me to get started?

The case caption, the court and index or docket number, the next scheduled date, and a short description of what you need covered. Send those and we will tell you the same business day what the court requires and how we would handle it.

Talk to Us About Your New York Case.

If you are a Maryland attorney holding a New York matter, the first conversation costs nothing and usually saves a trip. Email fabramson@abramsonlegal.com with the caption, the court, and the next date, and we will respond the same business day.