The bill introduced March 9 by Fletcher Hartsell, a Republican and lawyer, would allow non-lawyers to buy up to 49% of a firm, leaving it in control of licensed attorneys. (It came to my attention via AmLaw.) The bill, which would also allow outside investors to buy into accounting firms, includes language designed to prevent non-lawyers from interfering with the relationships between attorneys and their clients.
And Black was convicted of accepting a non-compete payment where the court found strong evidence of fraud as well as another count of interfering with a grand jury investigation by removing boxes of documents from his offices.