Can a lawyer use the firm name 'A' or place the letter 'A' in front of the firm name in a Yellow Pages ad to get a more prominent listing?
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This page answers the general question as of 2001. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current New York Rules of Professional Conduct, with citations.
Plain-English summary
The inquiry asked whether a lawyer could place a Yellow Pages ad using the firm name "A," or inserting the letter "A" before the firm name, so the listing would appear earlier in the alphabetical directory. The committee answered no.
The committee analyzed the question principally under DR 2-102(B), which bars lawyers from practicing under a trade name. Using a name that is not the legal name of a current, former, deceased, or retired member of the firm is use of a trade name. The committee concluded that adding "A" in front of the firm name, although perhaps not misleading about who practices in the firm, converts the firm name into "something more than the firm name," that is, a trade name, and that conclusion alone disposed of the question.
The committee also pointed to EC 2-10, which counsels that a lawyer should communicate advertising information "without undue emphasis upon style and advertising stratagems which serve to hinder rather than to facilitate intelligent selection of counsel." Inserting "A" to obtain a more prominent directory position is such a stratagem, the committee observed, and should not be condoned.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2001, under New York's former Code of Professional Responsibility, which New York replaced with the Rules of Professional Conduct in 2009. 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 Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance.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 lawyer name the firm 'A' to appear first in the Yellow Pages?
A: The opinion concluded no. Because "A" is not the legal name of a firm member, using it as the firm name is use of a trade name, which DR 2-102(B) prohibits.
Q: What if the firm just adds 'A' in front of its real name?
A: The opinion treated that the same way. Even if not misleading about the lawyers in the firm, prefixing "A" makes the listing more than the firm name and turns it into a prohibited trade name.
Q: Was the problem that the ad was misleading?
A: Not primarily. The committee rested on the trade-name bar, and added that EC 2-10 discourages advertising stratagems that hinder rather than help a reader's intelligent selection of counsel.
Background and rules framework
The opinion interpreted DR 2-101(A) (the general advertising rule barring false, deceptive, or misleading claims) and DR 2-102(B) (the bar on trade names and on names misleading as to the lawyers practicing under them) of New York's former Code of Professional Responsibility, together with EC 2-10 and EC 2-11. The Model Rule analogues are Rule 7.1 (communications about a lawyer's services) and Rule 7.5 (firm names and letterheads, since folded into Rule 7.1 in jurisdictions following the 2018 ABA amendments). New York replaced the Code with the Rules of Professional Conduct in 2009; the DR numbers cited here are historical.
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- MR 7.1 (communications concerning a lawyer's services); MR 7.5 (firm names and letterheads)
- NY DR 2-101(A); DR 2-102(B)
See also
- NY State Bar Op. 1003: Firm name using middle initials and surname
- NY State Bar Op. 1107: Using 'legal services' in a law firm name
- NY State Bar Op. 1152: First name as a firm name
Source
- Landing page: https://nysba.org/opinion-740/
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