---
title: O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4. Professional services.
collection: code
id: 14-7-4
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-7-4
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-7-4.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-7-4/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t14-(v12)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=82868bd8_0#page=224
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS / PROFESSIONAL CORPORATIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 14-7-4. Professional services.

(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;

(2) To the extent not inconsistent with the ethics of the professions involved or otherwise prohibited by law, physicians specializing in ophthalmology who are practicing within their scope of practice as established by law may organize and jointly own a professional corporation with optometrists who 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;

(3) To the extent not inconsistent with the ethics of the professions involved or otherwise prohibited by law, Doctors of Podiatric Medicine who are practicing within their scope of practice as established by law may organize and jointly own a professional corporation with any Doctors of Medicine or Doctors of Osteopathy who are practicing within their own scope of practice as established by law; and

(4) To the extent not inconsistent with the ethics of the professions involved or otherwise prohibited by law, chiropractors who are practicing within their scope of practice as established by law may organize and jointly own a professional corporation with physicians who are practicing within their scope of practice as established by law; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph shall authorize chiropractors to attach the title “physician” to such chiropractors’ 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; Ga. L. 2020, p. 225, § 1/HB 932; Ga. L. 2021, p. 109, § 1/HB 119.

## Amendments

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, in subsection (a), substituted a colon for a comma at the end, made capitalization changes at the beginning of paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2), substituted a semicolon for “, and” at the end of paragraph (a)(1), in paragraph (a)(2), substituted “that” for “who” in two places and substituted “; and” for the period at the end, and added paragraph (a)(3).

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, in subsection (a), deleted “and” at the end of paragraph (a)(2), substituted “; and” for a period at the end of paragraph (a)(3), and added paragraph (a)(4).