P0965 An attorney who resigned from the State Bar with disciplinary charges pending and acknowledged he was ineligible to practice law or hold himself out as entitled to practice law engaged in unauthorized practice by subsequently advertising himself as available to represent parties in administrative proceedings and attempting to do so. (The court declined to decide whether the Administrative Procedure Act (Government Code 11370 et seq) authorizes lay persons to represent others in administrative proceedings, saying if it does, it would be making an exception to the general rule that only active bar members may practice law but would not change the fact that representing parties in state administrative hearings constitutes the practice of law.) Federal regulations governing practice before federal bodies pre-empt a state court from preventing a defrocked lawyer from representing parties in federal matters.

BENNINGHOFF v SUPERIOR COURT (Unauthorized Practice) 136 CA4 61 [See: B&PC 6000 etseq; GovC 11370 etseq; Birbrower v Superior Court 17 C4 119, T/AT 11/96; Baron v City 2 C3 535]