Federal Procedure for Being Admitted Pro Hac Vice and Required Use of Local Counsel

            Eastern District Local Civil Rule 83.5.2(a) requires any attorney who is not a member of the bar of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania shall have an associate  counsel of record who is a member of the bar of the Eastern District in each proceeding in which the non member wishes  to appear. All pleadings must be  served on the associate counsel, often referred to as local counsel. Local counsel is not simply limited to  paperwork administration.  See Schreiber v. Kellogg, 838 F. Supp. 998 (E.D. Pa. 1993). Local Criminal Rule 1.2 makes this provision applicable to criminal cases as well.

            Eastern District Local Civil Rule 83.5.2(b) permits an attorney who is not a member of the Eastern District to actively participate in any proceeding upon leave of court and payment of an admission fee. This is commonly referred to as Pro Hac  Vice admission. Pro Hac Vice admission does not alleviate the requirement of retaining local counsel.

            Peter Vaira has served as local counsel for outside firms in numerous civil and criminal matters. He has served as local counsel for many firms including firms from Illinois, California, Ohio, New York, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,  Texas and Puerto Rico. Peter Vaira is the author of Eastern District Federal Practice Rules, Annotated, published annually by Gann Law Books.

            The local rules of the state courts of Pennsylvania permit an attorney not admitted in Pennsylvania to participate in litigation in the courts of Pennsylvania upon motion by a member of the bar of Pennsylvania. The rules require, however, that the Pennsylvania attorney is to be the attorney of record, regardless of the participation of the outside counsel.