ALBANY – A New York statute requiring out-of-state attorneys to maintain a physical presence in the state in order to practice law has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Albany.

Northern District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn held in Schoenefeld v. State of New York, 09-cv-00504, that the state’s rule under Judiciary Law §470 violates the privileges and immunities’ clause of the U.S. Constitution.