(a) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, no person shall conduct a real estate closing unless such person has been admitted as an attorney in this state under the provisions of section 51-80 and has not been disqualified from the practice of law due to resignation, disbarment, being placed on inactive status or suspension. For the purposes of this subsection, “real estate closing” means a closing for (1) a mortgage loan transaction, other than a home equity line of credit transaction or any other loan transaction that does not involve the issuance of a lender's or mortgagee's policy of title insurance in connection with such transaction, to be secured by real property in this state, or (2) any transaction wherein consideration is paid by a party to such transaction to effectuate a change in the ownership of real property in this state.
(b) Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall have committed a violation of subdivision (8) of subsection (a) of section 51-88 and be subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (b) of section 51-88.
(P.A. 19-88, S. 1.)