The hydrodynamic and electrooptical properties of the polyelectrolyte complex based on a poly(L-lysinium) cation and a bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate anion in chloroform and isopropyl alcohol were studied. The molar fraction of polypeptide chain units involved in complexation with surfactant ions is equal to 76%. In chloroform and isopropyl alcohol, complex molecules are individual compounds which neither dissociate to separate components nor form intermolecular associated. The optical rotation spectra of complex solutions are characteristic of polypeptides whose molecules adopt conformation of an α-helix. The comparison of hydrodynamic and electrooptical data collected for the complex and its covalent analog, poly(γ-benzyl-α,L-glutamate) with the same polymerization degree, shows that complex molecules take a rodlike conformation. It was demonstrated that a transition from a stoichiometric to nonstoichiometric composition of the complex, as well as a decrease in the diameter of a polar head of the surfactant and its removal from a polypeptide chain, significantly weakens steric repulsion between surfactant ions which is responsible for the compaction of polypeptide-surfactant complex molecules in organic solvents.