No person may either practice law or solicit the legal cause of another person or entity in this State unless he is enrolled as a member of the South Carolina Bar pursuant to applicable court rules, or otherwise authorized to perform prescribed legal activities by action of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. The type of conduct that is the subject of any charge filed pursuant to this section must have been defined as the unauthorized practice of law by the Supreme Court of South Carolina prior to any charge being filed. A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
S.C. Code Ann. § 40-5-310
Practicing law or soliciting legal cause of another without being enrolled as member of South Carolina Bar
Applied in 10 court decisions — leading case Linder v. Insurance Claims Consultants, Inc. (2002)
Most recently applied in Lexington Law Firm v. South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (May 2009)
1962 Code SECTION 56-141; 1952 Code SECTION 56-141; 1942 Code SECTION 312; 1932 Code SECTION 312; Civ
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.