5 CFR § 2636.305 - Compensation and other restrictions relating to professions involving a fiduciary relationship.

(a) Applicable restrictions. A covered noncareer employee shall not:

(1) Receive compensation for:

(i) Practicing a profession which involves a fiduciary relationship; or

(ii) Affiliating with or being employed to perform professional duties by a firm, partnership, association, corporation, or other entity which provides professional services involving a fiduciary relationship; or

(2) Permit his name to be used by any firm, partnership, association, corporation, or other entity which provides professional services involving a fiduciary relationship.

Example 1.

A covered noncareer employee of the White House Office who is an attorney may not receive compensation for drafting a will for her friend. She may, however, participate in her bar association's pro bono program by providing free legal services for the elderly, provided her participation in the program is otherwise proper. For example, 18 U.S.C. 205 would prohibit her from representing her pro bono client in a hearing before the Social Security Administration.

Example 2.

An accountant named C.B. Debit who is offered a covered noncareer appointment must terminate his partnership in the accounting firm of Delight, Waterhose and Debit upon appointment. Because his deceased father, J.R. Debit, was the founding partner for whom the firm is named, the name Debit need not be deleted from the firm's name. However, the name C.B. Debit may not appear on the firm's letterhead after the individual enters on duty as a covered noncareer employee.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section:

(1) Profession means a calling requiring specalized knowledge and often long and intensive preparation including instruction in skills and methods as well as in the scientific, historical or scholarly principles underlying such skills and methods. It is characteristic of a profession that those in the profession, through force of organization or concerted opinion, establish and maintain high standards of achievement and conduct, and commit its practitioners to continued study of the field. Consulting and advising with respect to subject matter that is generally regarded as the province of practitioners of a profession shall be considered a profession.

(2) Profession which involves a fiduciary relationship means a profession in which the nature of the services provided causes the recipient of those services to place a substantial degree of trust and confidence in the integrity, fidelity and specialized knowledge of the practitioner. Such professions are not limited to those whose practitioners are legally defined as fiduciaries and include practitioners in such areas as law, insurance, medicine, architecture, financial services and accounting. A covered noncareer employee who is uncertain whether a particular field of endeavor is a profession which involves a fiduciary relationship may request an advisory opinion under § 2636.103.

Example 1.

In view of the standards of the profession which require a licensed real estate broker to act in the best interests of his clients, the selling of real estate by a licensed broker involves the practice of a profession involving a fiduciary relationship.

Example 2.

A covered noncareer employee may receive the customary fee for serving as the executor of his mother's estate, provided he does not violate the applicable limitation on the amount of outside earned income he may receive. Although the executor of an estate has fiduciary obligations, serving as an executor in these circumstances does not involve the practice of a profession and, therefore, is not prohibited. He could not, however, serve for compensation as attorney for the estate.

[56 FR 1723, Jan. 17, 1991, as amended at 58 FR 69176, Dec. 30, 1993]