O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4 (2019)

Professional services

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) A professional corporation may practice only one profession, but for the purpose of this chapter, (1) the practice of architecture, professional engineering, and land surveying shall be considered the practice of only one profession to the extent that existing laws permit overlapping practices by members of those specific professions not inconsistent with the ethics of the professions involved, and (2) to the extent not inconsistent with the ethics of the professions involved or otherwise prohibited by law, physicians specializing in ophthalmology that are practicing within their scope of practice as established by law may organize and jointly own a professional corporation with optometrists that are practicing within their scope of practice as established by law; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph shall authorize optometrists to attach the title ‘‘physician’’ to such optometrists’ names or to the name of the professional corporation.

(b) A professional corporation shall engage in the practice of a profession only through its officers, employees, and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice the profession in this state. This restriction shall not, however, prevent the corporation from employing unlicensed persons in capacities in which they are not rendering professional services to the public in the course of their employment.

(c) At least one member of the board of directors and the president of a professional corporation shall be licensed to practice the profession for which the corporation is organized. If the governing board of a professional corporation includes persons not so licensed, the corporation shall, by creation of a standing committee of the board or otherwise, vest the responsibility for decisions relating wholly to professional considerations in persons who are so licensed.

History

(Ga. L. 1970, p. 243, § 4; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1261, § 1/HB 316.)

Annotations

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 18 Am. Jur. 2d, Corporations, § 43. ALR. - What constitutes professional services within meaning of statute pre-

serving individual liability of professional employees of professional corporation, association, or partnership, 31 ALR4th 898.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1989–2023 · leading case: Kent v. Mitchell, 735 S.E.2d 110 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Kent v. Mitchell, 735 S.E.2d 110 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “844, 846 (2) ( 471 SE2d 885 ) (1996) (professional corporation and its shareholders enjoy the same rights, privileges, and immunities as the shareholders of business corporations); see also OCGA § 14-7-4 (b) (professional corporation necessarily acts through its officers,…”

S. Eng'g Co. v. Cent. Georgia Elec. Membership Corp., 389 S.E.2d 380 (Ga. Ct. App. 1989). · cites it 2× “OCGA § 14-7-4 (b) provides that “[a] professional corporation shall engage in the practice of a profession only through its officers, employees, and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice the profession in this state.”

Gibson v. Tms Collections Servs. LLC (M.D. Ga. 2020). · cites it 2× “O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4(b) (“A professional corporation shall engage in the practice of a profession only through its officers, employees, and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice the profession in this state.”

Grubbs v. Cochran (M.D. Ga. 2023). · cites it 2× “See O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4(b) (“A professional corporation shall engage in the practice of a profession only through its officers, employees, and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice the profession in this state.”

Jeffrey Kent v. Tina Mitchell (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “844, 846 (2) ( 471 SE2d 885 ) (1996) (professional corporation and its shareholders enjoy the same rights, privileges, and immunities as the shareholders of business corporations); see also OCGA § 14-7-4 (b) (professional corporation necessarily acts through its officers,…”

— 14-7-4(b) — 2 cases

Gibson v. Tms Collections Servs. LLC (M.D. Ga. 2020). “O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4(b) (“A professional corporation shall engage in the practice of a profession only through its officers, employees, and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice the profession in this state.”

Grubbs v. Cochran (M.D. Ga. 2023). “See O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4(b) (“A professional corporation shall engage in the practice of a profession only through its officers, employees, and agents who are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice the profession in this state.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.