ABA Applauds Law Practice Exemption in Financial Reform Bill
A financial reform bill approved by a House and Senate conference committee exempts lawyers practicing law from oversight by a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The exemption says the bureau does not have supervisory or enforcement authority over activities engaged in by lawyers considered part of the practice of law in the states where they are licensed, according to a statement by ABA President Carolyn Lamm.
The ABA and several state and local bars had lobbied for changes in the original bill because of fears its broad language would make lawyers subject to federal regulation. The legislation had authorized regulation of anyone offering a “consumer financial product or service.”
“The American Bar Association and its nearly 400,000 members—indeed, all practicing lawyers in the United States—are gratified that the House and Senate conferees on the financial markets reform legislation have recognized the importance of maintaining the historic role of state supreme courts’ regulatory authority over the practice of law,” Lamm says in the press release.
