By Jennifer Smith
The Wall Street Journal
With apologies to Monty Python, a Jacoby & Meyers LLP lawsuit challenging restrictions on non-lawyer investment in law firms is not dead yet—despite its dismissal in March by a New York district court judge.
As the plague victim on the cart in Spamalot! sang:
I am not dead yet—I can dance, I can sing!
I am not dead yet—I can do the Highland Fling!
The resurrection of the Jacoby & Meyers suit came on Wednesday, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the case should be remanded back to district court so the plaintiffs can broaden the complaint.
To recap: back in 2011, the consumer law firm (and legal T.V. advertising pioneer) filed a suit claiming that a New York rule barring non-lawyers from owning stakes in law firms had hurt its ability to expand the firm and serve working-class clients.
