Crea

This is an appeal from the trial court’s granting of Richard H. Busby’s (respondent) motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The issue is whether respondent’s maintenance of his California law license represents sufficient minimum contacts with the state to justify the exercise of jurisdiction over him. We affirm.

I. Background

Roberto Crea (appellant) was a Massachusetts resident and one of three shareholders in Hi-Tech International, Inc. (Hi-Tech), an Oregon corporation located in Oregon. Respondent is an Oregon resident and an attorney licensed to practice law in both Oregon and California, though he has not practiced in California since 1981.

In July 1990, Robert Thomson, president of Hi-Tech, retained respondent to investigate possible claims that Hi-Tech might have for breach of a licensing agreement. After performing his investigation and concluding that Hi-Tech had a meritorious claim, respondent drafted a proposed complaint. He was informed that appellant did not want to participate in the litigation because of financial concerns. Consequently, respondent filed the complaint in Thomson’s name only, in the United States District Court for the…