Sometimes ethics really suck . . .

Rule 5.4 Professional Independence of a Lawyer (CA rule 1-310)
(b) A lawyer shall not form a partnership with a nonlawyer if any of the activities of the partnership consist of the practice of law.

A good (law school) friend of mine had on her gmail chat signature "If you could do one thing and were guaranteed not to fail...?" and I decided to answer her: "write the greatest post punk album of all time." I then asked what she wanted to do. She said "launch a startup" and I brought up rule 5.4 above. It got me to thinking about all the side projects I had wanted to do once I got myself established after law school, where having a bar card could be a real benefit. Rule 5.4 seems like a real wet blanket on that one. C'est la vie.