When an attorney brings a business support provider into an E-2, L-1, EB-5, or EB-2 NIW matter, client information leaves the law firm. Financial statements, ownership details, passport copies, and business strategy move to people who are not bound by the attorney’s professional rules in the same way the attorney is. This article explains how that flow of information generally works, what the professional responsibility framework generally addresses when attorneys use outside help, how privilege questions can arise when a business plan is involved, and the questions worth asking any third party before a client’s documents are shared, including Immigration Support Services.
Nothing here is a substitute for your own analysis of your jurisdiction’s rules. The point is to lay out the issues in plain terms so the conversation with any provider starts from the right questions.
Why third parties are part of business immigration matters
Investor and entrepreneur cases often involve work that happens outside the law firm. Depending on the classification and case facts, the supporting record may include a business plan, entity documents, financial records, or other business evidence, and law firms may use outside providers for some of these business-side components. When they do, someone outside the firm ends up handling the client’s information.
ISS coordinates these business-side services in one place and works with independent providers on all of them. For business plans and checking account application assistance, a dedicated ISS coordinator works with the client throughout the process, and professional business plan writers prepare the deliverable through ISS. For entity registration, ISS signs the client and introduces them to a document-filing provider who works with the client directly. That structure matters for confidentiality: it means client information is shared beyond ISS itself, and an attorney evaluating the arrangement should understand who receives what.
The attorney’s confidentiality duty and outside providers
Under the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.6 generally prohibits a lawyer from revealing information relating to the representation of a client without informed consent or another recognized basis, and Rule 1.6(c) generally calls for reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, that information. Model Rule 5.3 addresses a lawyer’s responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistance, including nonlawyers outside the firm, and generally calls for reasonable efforts to ensure that their conduct is compatible with the lawyer’s professional obligations.
The ABA has also addressed outsourcing. ABA Formal Opinion 08-451 (2008) discusses a lawyer’s obligations when outsourcing legal and nonlegal support services, and the comments to Rule 5.3 adopted in 2012 discuss using outside service providers. Each state adopts and interprets its own version of these rules, so the governing text is your jurisdiction’s, not the model language, and some jurisdictions address confidentiality through their own statutes or codes.
The practical takeaway is that using a third party may create additional supervision and diligence issues under the rules of the attorney’s jurisdiction. ISS does not advise attorneys on how those rules apply to them, and nothing in this article should be read that way.
Privilege is a separate question from confidentiality
Confidentiality is an ethical duty owed to the client. Attorney-client privilege is an evidentiary rule, and it is narrower. Sharing privileged communications with a third party can raise waiver questions unless an exception applies, and that is where business support work deserves careful thought.
Courts have recognized, starting with United States v. Kovel (2d Cir. 1961), that privilege can extend to a third party, such as an accountant, whom counsel retains to help the lawyer render legal advice. Courts have also declined to extend privilege where the third party was providing business services rather than assisting with legal advice, and the analysis varies by jurisdiction and by the facts of the engagement. Whether a business plan writer, an entity-formation provider, or a coordinator falls on one side or the other of that line is a legal question for the attorney to work through, and the answer may depend on who engages the provider and how the engagement is documented.
Immigration business plans raise their own version of this question. Because a finished business plan is generally prepared for submission to a government agency, the final submitted version should not be assumed to remain confidential, while drafts, source materials such as personal financial records and source-of-funds documents, and related communications call for a separate, jurisdiction-specific analysis. One question an attorney may want to consider is whether legal analysis stays in the attorney’s own channel while the provider receives only the business facts needed for the deliverable.
What information a business support provider typically asks for
A useful discipline is to match what is shared to what the service requires. A business plan typically needs the business concept, products or services, management background, market information, and the financial inputs for projections. Entity registration typically needs the chosen entity type, state of formation, ownership structure, and the identifying details the state and the IRS require, including the IRS requirement that an EIN application identify an individual as the responsible party (except for government entities), not a nominee. Checking account application assistance typically needs the formation documents, EIN confirmation, and the identity information the account provider requires. (The entity choices are the client’s decisions, made with their attorney; ISS does not advise on entity type, state, or structure.)
What these services generally do not require is the attorney’s legal strategy, the eligibility analysis, or communications between the attorney and client about the strengths and weaknesses of the case. Whether to keep those out of a provider’s file, and how, is a judgment for the attorney. If a provider asks for something that seems unrelated to the deliverable, that is a fair moment to ask why.
Questions to ask any third party before documents move
The following questions apply to any outside provider in a business immigration matter. They are also the questions ISS expects attorneys to ask us, and we would rather answer them up front than have a referring attorney assume.
- Who will see the client’s information? Ask the provider to identify every party in the chain, including subcontracted writers or filing agents, and where they are located.
- What written confidentiality terms govern the engagement? Ask to review the client agreement and any confidentiality provisions before the client signs, and confirm whether downstream providers are bound by comparable terms.
- How is information transmitted and stored? Email attachments, shared drives, and client portals carry different risks. Ask what the provider uses and how long records are retained after the engagement ends.
- Will the provider communicate with the client directly, and about what? Direct contact is normal for business-side work, but the scope should be clear so the provider does not drift into answering legal questions.
- What happens when a legal question comes up? The answer you want is that the provider routes it back to counsel.
- Does the provider receive or pay referral compensation, and is it disclosed? Any compensation arrangement should be transparent to the client, and the attorney should confirm whether their jurisdiction requires client disclosure or consent.
On that last point: ISS may pay referral fees to attorneys and others who refer clients, and may receive compensation from third-party providers to whom it refers clients. These arrangements are disclosed in the ISS client agreement. Attorneys are solely responsible for ensuring that any referral arrangement complies with the professional responsibility rules of their jurisdiction, including any required client disclosure and consent. ISS does not advise attorneys on their ethical obligations.
How ISS approaches the boundary with counsel
ISS is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal representation. ISS handles the business-side pieces, and attorneys can ask what information ISS and its independent providers request for each deliverable. ISS works alongside the immigration attorney, who remains responsible for all legal strategy and filings. ISS does not answer eligibility, filing, or document-sufficiency questions; those legal questions must be directed to the client’s licensed immigration attorney.
ISS coordinates business-side components so attorneys can stay focused on legal strategy and filings, and has been serving clients since 2022. ISS has completed more than 575 immigration business plans and more than 240 business entity registrations, and has assisted more than 140 business checking account applications, all as supporting services delivered from client-provided information. Every case is different and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, and whether any document meets an immigration requirement is a question for the client and their attorney.
If you want to review the ISS client agreement, understand which independent providers are involved in a given service, or walk through how information moves from your office to the deliverable, those are the right conversations to have before the first referral. The immigration business plan, business entity registration, and business checking account application assistance pages on immigrationsupportservices.com describe what each service includes.
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Does sharing client documents with a business support provider waive attorney-client privilege?
- That is a legal question that depends on the jurisdiction, the facts of the engagement, and what is shared. Courts have extended privilege to some third parties retained to help counsel render legal advice and declined to extend it to others providing business services. The attorney makes that call; ISS does not advise on privilege and does not represent that any arrangement preserves it.
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- Who at ISS and its providers will see my client’s information?
- For business plans and checking account application assistance, a dedicated ISS coordinator works with the client, and independent professional business plan writers or the account provider receive the information needed for the deliverable. For entity registration, ISS introduces the client to a document-filing provider who works with the client directly. Attorneys can ask ISS to identify the parties involved in a specific service before referring.
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- Does ISS communicate with my client directly?
- Yes, for the business-side work. The ISS coordinator works with the client throughout the business plan and checking account processes, and the entity registration provider works with the client directly after introduction. That contact stays on the business-side pieces; ISS does not provide legal advice on strategy, eligibility, or filings.
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- What happens if my client asks ISS a legal question?
- ISS does not answer eligibility, filing, or document-sufficiency questions. Those questions must be directed to the client’s licensed immigration attorney, who remains responsible for all legal strategy and filings.
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- Does ISS pay referral compensation to attorneys?
- ISS offers a referral program for collaborating attorneys, and referral compensation may be available. Specific terms are discussed directly and set out in the referral agreement. Attorneys are solely responsible for ensuring any referral arrangement complies with the professional responsibility rules of their jurisdiction, including any required client disclosure and consent; ISS does not advise attorneys on their ethical obligations.
Conclusion
Bringing a third party into a business immigration matter is routine, and so is the responsibility that comes with it. The attorney’s confidentiality duty is the attorney’s to analyze under their own jurisdiction’s rules, privilege questions deserve a separate look, and attorneys should evaluate what information to share and what terms to document before anything moves. A provider that welcomes those questions, keeps its scope narrow, and sends legal questions back to counsel is easier to supervise and easier to trust.
To talk through how ISS handles client information and coordinates business-side services for your clients, schedule a consultation now.
Immigration Support Services Inc. is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal representation. The information in this article is for general educational purposes only. Immigration laws change frequently, and legal questions should be directed to a licensed immigration attorney.
