Executive Director’s Message Emeritus continued from page 10 person who is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia, who is retiring or has retired from the active practice of law, and who intends to provide pro bono services under this subparagraph; and (i) Intends to provide pro bono legal services as deﬁ ned by Rule 6.1(a) of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct and its comments, subject to the terms and conditions of this subparagraph; and (ii) Is, at the time of requesting emeritus member status, an active, associate, or retired member in good standing of the Virginia State Bar who has practiced law for 20 years or more; and (iii) Is, at the time of requesting emeritus status, an active, associate, or retired member who has not been disciplined for professional misconduct by the bar or courts of any jurisdiction within the past ﬁ fteen years; and (iv) Has been engaged in the active practice of law for a minimum of ﬁ ve out of the seven years immediately preceding the application to become an emeritus member; and (v) Agrees to neither ask for nor receive any compensation of any kind from the client, except for out-of-pock-et expenses, for the legal service to be rendered under this subparagraph. (C) Qualiﬁ ed legal services pro-vider, for the purposes of this subpara-graph, is a Virginia licensed legal aid society or other not-for-proﬁ t entity organized in whole or in part, to provide legal services to the poor and/or work-ing poor in Virginia. (2) Activities. (A) An emeritus member, in asso-ciation with a qualiﬁ ed legal services provider, may perform only the follow-ing activities: (i) The emeritus member may appear in any court or before an admin-12 VIRGINIA LAWYER | February 2018 | Vol. 66 istrative tribunal or arbitrator in the Commonwealth of Virginia on behalf of a client of a qualiﬁ ed legal services provider. (ii) The emeritus member may prepare and sign pleadings and other documents to be ﬁ led in any court or with any administrative tribunal or arbitrator in this state in any matter in which the emeritus member is involved. (iii) The emeritus member may render legal advice and perform other appropriate legal services. (iv) The emeritus member may en-gage in such other preparatory activities as are necessary for any matter in which he or she is properly involved. (3) Limitations (A) The prohibition against com-pensation for the emeritus member contained in Section (1)(B)(v) of this subparagraph shall not prevent the qualiﬁ ed legal services provider from reimbursing the emeritus member for actual expenses incurred while render-ing service under this subparagraph, nor shall it prevent the qualiﬁ ed legal services provider from charging for its services as it may otherwise properly charge. The qualiﬁ ed legal services provider shall be entitled to receive all court awarded attorney’s fees for any representation rendered by an emeritus member. (4) Certiﬁ cation. Permission for an emeritus member to perform services under this subparagraph shall become effective upon: (A) A determination by the Virginia State Bar that the emeritus member has fulﬁ lled the requirements of such membership and has a clear disciplinary record as required by Section (1)(B) of this subparagraph; and (B) The ﬁ ling with the Virginia State Bar each year of an afﬁ davit of afﬁ liation with a qualiﬁ ed legal services provider by the emeritus member. The emeritus member shall also certify in this afﬁ davit whether they are currently covered by professional liability insur-ance. (5) Membership Requirements. In order to practice law under this rule, a retired member must comply with the petition and approval requirements for reinstatement as an active member prescribed in Paragraph 3(d) of Part 6, Section IV of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Also, associate mem-bers must satisfy any outstanding MCLE deﬁ ciencies before assuming emeritus status. Additionally, emeritus members must comply with all rules and require-ments set forth in Part 6, Section IV of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia with the exception that they are not required to pay dues and the client protection fund fee as set forth in Paragraphs 11 and 16, nor comply with the professional liability certiﬁ cation requirements in Paragraph 18. (6) Change of Membership Status. An emeritus member may petition for reinstatement to active or associate membership under the procedure pre-scribed in subparagraph (d) of this rule for disabled and retired members. Questions? Should you have any questions regard-ing the new rule or how to become an emeritus member, please contact Crista Gantz, the VSB’s new director of Access to Legal Services. She replaced Karl Doss, who has become the Deputy Director of Legal Services Corporation of Virginia. Crista can be reached at cgantz@vsb.org. www.vsb.org