Can a New York firm affiliated with a German law firm use a nearly identical name and list the foreign firm on its letterhead without a real partnership?
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This page answers the general question as of 1994. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current New York Rules of Professional Conduct, with citations.
Plain-English summary
A German firm, "X. & Partner Rechtsanwaelt," planned to open a New York office to provide German-law information and generate business, and to organize a separate New York practice firm called "X. & Partners, Attorneys at Law." The two were deliberately kept separate because the German firm did not want to assume the obligations of a true partnership with the New York firm. The committee found the proposed firm name, letterhead, and cards misleading.
On the name, the committee applied EC 2-11, under which a lawyer should practice only under a designation containing a lawyer's own name, an employing lawyer's name, partners' names, or a professional corporation name. It noted the two exceptions: continued use of deceased or retired members' names (DR 2-102(B)) and the multistate-firm rule of New York Criminal & Civil Courts Bar Assn. v. Jacoby. The name "X. & Partners" fit neither, and even if the multistate rule were extended to multinational firms, the committee concluded the name was misleading: where there is no true partnership with the local lawyer (no real sharing of profits, liabilities, and professional responsibility), use of an out-of-jurisdiction firm's name would mislead clients, who might reasonably expect the shared responsibility the similar names suggest (citing N.Y. State 175 and DR 2-102(C)).
On letterhead and cards under DR 2-102(A), the committee identified three problems. Listing "X. & Partner" was improper because the listed persons should be natural persons or professional corporations, and including the German firm implied that New York clients would be served by the German firm's worldwide attorneys. An attorney admitted in Pennsylvania and Germany but not New York should be described as licensed only in those jurisdictions, not merely "not admitted in New York," to satisfy DR 2-102(D)'s requirement to make jurisdictional limitations clear. And labeling the German address the "head office," with other offices listed, was misleading because the New York firm has only one office and is not an office of the German firm (citing N.Y. State 538 and DR 2-102(C)). The committee noted that consolidating into one firm meeting the applicable requirements could avoid many of these objections, and answered the question in the negative as a matter of ethics, expressing no view on legality.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1994, before New York replaced the Code of Professional Responsibility (the Disciplinary Rules cited here) with the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, effective April 1, 2009. Firm names and letterhead are now addressed by Rule 7.5 and communications about a lawyer's services by Rule 7.1 (the ABA deleted Model Rule 7.5 in 2018 and folded firm-name regulation into Model Rule 7.1, though New York retains a Rule 7.5). 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 New York firm use the same name as an affiliated foreign firm?
A: The committee concluded it may not where there is no true partnership (real sharing of profits, liabilities, and responsibility), because clients could reasonably expect the shared responsibility the similar names suggest.
Q: Can the foreign firm be listed on the New York firm's letterhead?
A: No. The committee concluded that persons listed should be natural persons or professional corporations, and listing the foreign firm implies New York clients will be served by its worldwide attorneys, which is misleading.
Q: How should a lawyer not admitted in New York be described?
A: The committee concluded that under DR 2-102(D) the lawyer should be described as licensed only in the jurisdictions where admitted (here Pennsylvania and Germany), rather than simply "not admitted in New York."
Q: Can the foreign office be called the "head office"?
A: No. The committee concluded that labeling the German office the "head office" is misleading because the New York firm has a single office and is not an office of the German firm.
Background and rules framework
The opinion applied New York Code DR 2-102(A) (professional cards, letterhead, and notices), DR 2-102(B) (use of deceased or retired members' names), DR 2-102(C) (misleading firm names), DR 2-102(D) (disclosing jurisdictional limitations), and EC 2-11 (firm-name designations). The analysis corresponds to ABA Model Rule 7.1 (communications concerning a lawyer's services) and Model Rule 7.5 (firm names and letterheads).
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- New York Code DR 2-102(A), DR 2-102(B), DR 2-102(C), DR 2-102(D); EC 2-11 (applied in the opinion)
- MR 7.1 (communications concerning a lawyer's services); MR 7.5 (firm names and letterheads)
Cases:
- New York Criminal & Civil Courts Bar Assn. v. Jacoby, 61 N.Y.2d 130 (1984), multistate-firm name rule
Other opinions cited:
- N.Y. State 175 (1970): use of an out-of-state lawyer's name without a true partnership is misleading
- N.Y. State 538 (1981): listing a foreign associate or correspondent firm may mislead
- N.Y. State 622 (1991): continued use of a predecessor firm name
See also
- NYC Bar Formal Op. 1994-5: Use of the Title "Esquire"
- No sibling opinions yet indexed.
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