The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits, among other things, abridging “freedom of speech,” the right “peaceably to assemble,” and the right to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed to what extent these protections pertain to commercial law firms that represent clients for a fee.
In Jacoby & Meyers, LLP v. The Presiding Justices of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Departments, Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court, 852 F.3d 178 (2d Cir. 2017), the Second Circuit analyzed the First Amendment rights of commercial law firms in the context of an action by the law firm of Jacoby & Meyers to invalidate New York’s prohibition on non-lawyer ownership of law firms. In affirming the dismissal of the law firm’s suit, the Court of Appeals held that for-profit law firms do not have their own First Amendment rights to associate with clients, or petition on behalf of clients, New York state laws preventing non-lawyer ownership do not burden a law firm’s First Amendment rights to associate with clients or to petition the government, and New York state regulations which prohibit non-lawyer ownership are rationally related to a legitimate government interest and therefore pass constitutional muster.
