14A:17-6 - Directors and officers
14A:17-6. Directors and officers
A professional corporation which has only one shareholder need have only one director who shall be such shareholder. Such one shareholder shall also serve as the president of the corporation. The other officers of the corporation in such a case need not be licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render the same professional service within this State, as such one shareholder. A professional corporation which has only 2 shareholders need have only 2 directors who shall be such shareholders. The 2 shareholders shall, between them, fill all the officerships of the professional corporation.
L.1969, c. 232, s. 6, eff. Dec. 16, 1969.
14A:17-7.Rendering of professional service limited to licensed personnel; charges authorized
7. Rendering of professional service limited to licensed personnel; charges authorized.
No professional corporation or foreign professional legal corporation may render professional services in this State except through its officers, employees and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render such professional services within this State; provided, however, that this provision shall not be interpreted to include in the term "employee" as used herein clerks, secretaries, administrators, bookkeepers, technicians and other assistants who are not usually and ordinarily considered by law, custom and practice to be rendering professional service to the public for which a license or other legal authorization is required in connection with the profession to be practiced, nor does the term "employee" include any other person who performs all his employment under the direct supervision and control of an officer, agent or employee who is himself rendering professional service to the public on behalf of the professional corporation; provided, that no person shall, under the guise of employment, practice a profession unless duly licensed to practice that profession under the laws of this State. Notwithstanding any other or contrary provisions of the laws of the State, a professional corporation or foreign professional legal corporation may charge for its services, may collect such charges, and may compensate its officers, employees and agents, including those persons excluded from the term "employee" as used herein.
L.1969,c.232,s.7; amended 1991,c.105,s.2; 1995,c.375,s.3.
14A:17-8.Professional relationship; personal liability; corporate liability 8. Professional relationship; personal liability; corporate liability. Nothing contained in this act shall be interpreted to abolish, repeal, modify, restrict or limit the law now in effect in this State applicable to the professional relationship and the contract, tort and other legal liabilities between the person furnishing the professional services and the person receiving such professional service and to the standards for professional conduct, including the confidential relationship between the person rendering the professional services and the person receiving such professional service, if any; and all confidential relationships previously enjoyed under the laws of this State or hereafter enacted shall remain inviolate. Any officer, shareholder, agent or employee of a professional corporation or a foreign professional legal corporation shall remain personally and fully liable and accountable for any negligent or wrongful acts or misconduct committed by him, or by any person under his direct supervision and control, while rendering professional service on behalf of the corporation in this State to the person for whom such professional service was being rendered; provided, that the personal liability of shareholders of a professional corporation, in their capacity as shareholders of such corporation, shall be no greater in any aspect than that of a shareholder-employee of a corporation organized under the provisions of the Business Corporation Act of New Jersey, exclusive of this act. The professional corporation shall be liable up to the full value of its property for any negligent or wrongful acts or misconduct committed by any of its officers, shareholders, agents or employees while they are engaged on behalf of the corporation in the rendering of professional service. The assets of a professional corporation shall not be liable to attachment for the individual debts of its shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the relationship of an individual to a professional corporation or a foreign professional legal corporation with which such individual is or may be associated, whether as shareholder, director, officer, employee or agent, shall in no way modify, extend or diminish the jurisdiction over such individual, of and by whatever State, agency, office or authority which licensed or otherwise legally authorized him to render service in a particular field of endeavor in this State.
L.1969,c.232,s.8; amended 1995,c.375,s.4.
14A:17-9.Limitations on corporate business activity
9. Limitations on corporate business activity.
No professional corporation shall engage in any business other than the rendering of the professional services for which it was specifically incorporated; and no foreign professional legal corporation shall engage in any business in this State other than the rendering of legal services of the type provided by attorneys-at-law; provided, that nothing in this act or in any other provisions of existing law applicable to corporations shall be interpreted to prohibit such corporation from investing its funds in real estate, mortgages, stocks, bonds or any other type of investments, or from owning real or personal property necessary for, or appropriate or desirable in, the fulfillment or rendering of its professional services.
L.1969,c.232,s.9; amended 1995,c.375,s.5.
14A:17-10.Who may own shares; voting trust; estate ownership
10. Who may own shares; voting trust; estate ownership.
(a) No professional corporation may issue any of its shares to anyone other than an individual who is duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render the same professional service as that for which the corporation was incorporated. No shareholder of a professional corporation shall enter into a voting trust agreement or proxy or any other type of agreement vesting another person not a shareholder of the corporation with the authority to exercise the voting power of any or all of his shares. Subject to the provisions of the corporation's certificate of incorporation, the estate of a deceased shareholder may continue to hold the shares of such shareholder for a reasonable period of administration of the estate, but shall not be authorized to participate in any decisions concerning the rendering of professional service.
(b) A foreign professional legal corporation rendering legal services in this State shall have at least one shareholder who is an attorney-at-law licensed and eligible to practice in this State under the Rules of the Supreme Court.
L.1969,c.232,s.10; amended 1995,c.375,s.6.