[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR2636.305]

[Page 611-612]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER XVI--OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
 
PART 2636_LIMITATIONS ON OUTSIDE EARNED INCOME, EMPLOYMENT AND AFFILIATIONS 
 
     Subpart C_Outside Earned Income Limitation and Employment and 
   Affiliation Restrictions Applicable to Certain Noncareer Employees
 
Sec. 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

[[Page 612]]

may request an advisory opinion under Sec. 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]