Streit

McKINSTER, Acting P.J.

A plaintiff in an action for damages for legal malpractice appeals from a summary judgment entered against her. We reverse.

Yvonne Streit sued Weldon Diggs, his professional corporation, Linda Wilde, and Deborah Walker ("Diggs defendants"), together with numerous fictitiously named defendants, for damages for legal malpractice. Framed in three counts, her complaint alleges that the defendants committed malpractice in defending her in two actions and in prosecuting a cross-complaint in one of them. All three counts are asserted against every defendant, including every Doe defendant. Thereafter, Streit amended her complaint to substitute Covington & Crowe, a law firm, and Gerald R. Gatlin, a lawyer who had practiced at that firm, for two of the Doe defendants.

The Diggs defendants moved for summary adjudication as to the first and third counts of the complaint. Covington & Crowe and Gatlin (collectively, "Covington & Crowe") joined in the motion for summary adjudication on the same grounds raised by the Diggs defendants. Covington & Crowe represented that their only connection to Streit's representation was that, as a professional courtesy to Streit's…

Procedural Background

Yvonne L. Streit sued Weldon Diggs, his professional corporation, Linda Wilde, and Deborah Walker (Diggs defendants), together with numerous fictitiously named defendants, for damages for legal malpractice. Framed in three counts, her complaint alleges that the defendants committed malpractice in defending her in two actions and in prosecuting a cross-complaint in one of them. All three counts are asserted against every defendant, including every Doe defendant. Thereafter, Streit amended her complaint to substitute Covington & Crowe, a law firm, and Gerald R. Gatlin, a lawyer who had practiced at that firm, for two of the Doe defendants.

The Diggs defendants moved for summary adjudication as to the first and third counts of the complaint. Covington & Crowe and Gatlin (collectively, Covington & Crowe) joined in the motion for summary adjudication on the same grounds raised by the Diggs defendants. Covington & Crowe represented that their only connection to Streit’s representation was that, as a professional courtesy to Streit’s attorneys of record, the Diggs defendants, Covington & Crowe had “specially appeared” for Streit in their stead at a…

I agree with the ruling and the logic of the majority opinion. Because our holding is likely to cause substantial concern in the legal community, I offer additional observations. It was not necessary to articulate theoretical underpinnings of our result in order to reach a legal *448 conclusion, but implicit in our decision are a number of assumptions about the practice of law and about the function of attorneys who appear in court, which deserve articulation.

A basic element of our legal system is, obviously, the lawyer. What is a “lawyer”? In its common and most expansive sense, the word refers to a person who is learned in the law. In this sense, it may include many categories of lawyer with which we are not concerned here: e.g., those in judicial and quasi-judicial positions, scholars, lawyers in academia, and those who lecture, teach or write. The issue before us today concerns a narrower category of lawyers: those who represent a client.

In order to represent another, a lawyer must be admitted to practice law. Those who represent clients are divided into two broad groups; those who go to court and those who ply their trade without going to court. Our decision today focuses…