(a) It ~~shall be~~ is unlawful for any ~~natural~~ person to practice or appear as an attorney-at-law for another in a court ~~of record~~ in this state or to make it a business to solicit employment for any attorney, ~~or to furnish an attorney or counsel to render legal services,~~ or to hold himself or herself out to the public or any member thereof as being entitled to practice law, or in any other manner to assume, use or advertise the title of lawyer, or attorney and counselor-at-law, ~~or counselor,~~ or attorney and counselor, or equivalent terms in any language, in such manner as to convey the impression that he or she is a legal practitioner of law, or in any manner to advertise that he or she, either alone or together with other persons, has, owns, conducts or maintains a law office, without first having been duly and regularly licensed and admitted to practice law in ~~a court of record~~ the courts of this State, and without having subscribed and taken the oath required by the ~~next preceding section~~ provisions of section three of this article.

(b) Any person violating the provisions of ~~this~~ ~~section~~ subsection (a) of this section ~~shall be~~ is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than ~~$1,000~~ $5,000, or confined in jail not more than ninety days, or both fined and confined, and on any subsequent offense, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $10,000, or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined and confined: but this penalty shall not be incurred by any attorney who institutes suits in the circuit courts after obtaining a license, if he or she shall qualify at the first term thereafter of a circuit court of any county of the circuit in which he or she resides: Provided, That nothing herein prohibits a lawyer from advertising services or hiring a person to assist in advertising services as permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct.