Can a Florida lawyer let a nonlawyer employee sign the lawyer's name to notices of hearing and other pleadings?

Plain-English summary

The inquiring attorney described two situations: a lawyer on vacation who authorizes a secretary by phone to sign the lawyer's name (with the secretary's initials) to discovery and notices of hearing, and a busy lawyer who authorizes a secretary or paralegal office manager to sign notices of hearing as a convenience.

The opinion explained that a lawyer may delegate functions to a nonlawyer employee so long as the lawyer supervises and retains responsibility for the work, and has a duty to make reasonable efforts to ensure the employee's conduct is compatible with the lawyer's own professional obligations. One of those obligations is to refrain from knowingly disobeying the rules of a tribunal. The committee read Rule 2.060(d) of the Rules of Judicial Administration to require that every pleading be signed by an attorney of record in the attorney's individual name. On that basis it concluded an attorney should not permit nonlawyer employees to sign notices of hearing.

The committee acknowledged Hankin v. Blissett, 475 So.2d 1303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), which held that a notice of appeal signed by a secretary in the attorney's name satisfied Rule 2.060(d) because a pleading signed by the attorney's authorized agent is in effect signed by the attorney. The opinion read Hankin as addressing only the legal sufficiency of such pleadings, not relieving attorneys of the ethical obligation to comply with the letter of the rule. The committee added that failing to comply carries the danger of aiding the unlicensed practice of law.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1988, before The Florida Bar's adoption of the 2006 revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Can a paralegal or secretary sign pleadings in the lawyer's name in Florida?

A: Per this opinion, no. The committee concluded that an attorney should not under any circumstances permit a nonlawyer employee to sign the attorney's name to notices of hearing or other pleadings.

Q: Does it matter that the lawyer authorized the signature or was on vacation?

A: The opinion treated both the vacationing-lawyer scenario and the busy-lawyer "convenience" scenario the same way; in each the committee concluded the nonlawyer should not sign.

Q: Didn't a court hold that an agent's signature counts as the attorney's?

A: The committee discussed Hankin v. Blissett but read it as deciding only whether such pleadings were legally sufficient, not as excusing the attorney from the ethical duty to comply with the letter of Rule 2.060(d).

Background and rules framework

The opinion applies the supervision-of-nonlawyers rules (Florida Rules 4-5.3(b) and 4-5.5 / Model Rules 5.3 and 5.5) together with the duty not to knowingly disobey a tribunal's rules (Florida Rule 4-3.4(c) / Model Rule 3.4(c)). The operative external rule is Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.060(d), which the committee read to require an attorney's individual signature on pleadings. The committee also tied noncompliance to the prohibition on assisting the unlicensed practice of law (Rule 4-5.5(b)).

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Fla. Rule 4-3.4(c) / Model Rule 3.4(c) (knowingly disobeying tribunal rules)
• Fla. Rule 4-5.3(b) / Model Rule 5.3 (responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistants)
• Fla. Rule 4-5.5, 4-5.5(b) / Model Rule 5.5 (unauthorized practice of law)

Other authority:

• Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.060(d) (attorney signature on pleadings)

Cases:

• Hankin v. Blissett, 475 So.2d 1303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), legal sufficiency of a pleading signed by an attorney's authorized agent

See also

• FL Bar Ethics Op. 86-4: Nonlawyer Employees on Letterhead

Source

• Landing page: https://www.floridabar.org/etopinions/etopinion-87-11/
• Original PDF: https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2017/04/FL-Bar-Ethics-Op-87-11-2.pdf

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

FLORIDA BAR ETHICS OPINION
OPINION 87-11
April 15, 1988
Advisory ethics opinions are not binding.

Under no circumstances should an attorney permit a nonlawyer employee to sign the attorney's name, together with the nonlawyer's initials, to notices of hearing and other pleadings.

RPC: 4-3.4(c), 4-5.3(b), 4-5.5, 4-5.5(b)
Case: Hankin v. Blissett, 475 So.2d 1303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
Misc.: Fla.R.Jud.Adm. 2.060(d)

The inquiring attorney requests an opinion regarding the ethical permissibility of the following conduct:

1. An attorney who is on vacation authorizes his secretary, via a telephone call, to sign the attorney's name, together with the secretary's initials, to discovery and notices of hearing.

2. An attorney with a large case load authorizes his secretary or paralegal office manager to sign notices of hearings as a convenience.

Under the Rules of Professional Conduct (Chapter 4, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar), an attorney may delegate functions to a nonlawyer employee so long as the attorney supervises and retains responsibility for the work. Rule 4-5.5, Comment. The delegating attorney has a duty to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the nonlawyer employee's conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the attorney. Rule 4-5.3(b). One of the attorney's professional obligations is to refrain from knowingly disobeying the rules of a tribunal. Rule 4-3.4(c).

Thus, an attorney practicing in Florida courts is obligated to comply personally with the Rules of Judicial Administration and to ensure that the conduct of his nonlawyer employees is compatible with this obligation. In this respect, Rule 2.060(d) of the Rules of Judicial Administration provides in pertinent part:

Every pleading and other paper of a party represented by an attorney shall be signed by at least one attorney of record in his individual name whose address and telephone number, including area code, shall be stated, and who shall be duly licensed to practice law in Florida or who shall have received permission to appear in the particular case as provided in subsection (b) . . . . If a pleading is not signed or is signed with intent to defeat the purpose of this rule, it may be stricken and the action may proceed as though the pleading or other paper had not been served.

In view of the rules referred to above, the Committee concludes that an attorney should not under any circumstances permit nonlawyer employees to sign notices of hearing.

The Committee is aware of Hankin v. Blissett, 475 So.2d 1303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), which held that a notice of appeal on which an attorney's secretary signed the attorney's name met the requirements of Rule 2.060(d) because "a pleading signed in the name of the attorney by the attorney's authorized agent is, in effect, a pleading signed by the attorney." Hankin addressed only the legal sufficiency of pleadings signed by nonlawyers for lawyers. The ruling does not relieve attorneys of their ethical obligation to comply with the letter of Rule 2.060(d). Failure to comply with the letter of the rule carries danger of aiding the unlicensed practice of law in violation of Rule 4-5.5(b).