A managing partner has filed a derivative complaint in Miami over the alleged misappropriation of a Washington D.C. law firm’s millions of dollars in working capital by two other managing partners, to entities in which they are accused of having a financial interest.

Randolph Braccialarghe, an ethics professor at NSU College of Law, said the action—in which the non-lawyer plaintiff and a KS Law Group managing partner, Allan Teh, sued the defendants, non-lawyer Sylvia Benito and Lee Melchionni, Esq.—is rare in Florida. Only Washington D.C., Arizona and Washington state permit nonlawyers to have equity in a law firm, he said.