Attorney Registration with Non-Lawyer Employer: Independence and Secrecy Safeguards

The supervisory authority considered the requirements for registering a part-time self-employed attorney who is also employed by a person not registered as an attorney, focusing on the independence stipulated by Art. 8 para. 1 lit. d of the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (BGFA). The court reasoned that registration requires detailed information regarding the employment relationship and safeguards ensuring the preservation of professional secrecy, especially since the employer is not a registered attorney. Since the applicant demonstrated that her employment contract included specific limitations—such as prohibiting her from handling mandates that could affect her employer's business, restricting data access related to her employment, ensuring no hierarchical instruction regarding her legal mandates, and maintaining separate storage of client files—the court found that her professional independence and professional secrecy were adequately guaranteed, thus approving her registration.