Could a lawyer have his name placed in a law list that guarantees the fidelity of the listed lawyers through a bond?

Plain-English summary

A member of the bar asked whether it was proper to have his name inserted in a law list that guarantees to its users the fidelity of the listed lawyers through bond or similar means. The Board answered that it was not.

It relied on a 1923 report of the ABA's Committee on Commercial Trade and Commercial Law, adopted by the Association, condemning the bonding of attorneys for faithful performance of their duties; the committee had said that advertising attorneys as "guaranteed" or bonded in a collection-agency list, to obtain credit for faithfulness, is beneath the honor and dignity of the profession, a view in which the New York County Lawyers Association's ethics committee had concurred. The Board quoted Rule 45, which limits a lawyer's professional card to his name, profession, address, telephone number, and special branch practiced, and permits insertion of that card in a reputable law list. Because it is improper for a lawyer to directly insure his fidelity to a client by bond or guaranty, the Board reasoned, a list that does so is not reputable, since it does for the lawyer what he may not do for himself. Lawyers, the opinion said, should be employed on merit, capacity, and integrity, and substituting a bond's obligation for the element of integrity undermines a principal attribute of professional standing. The Board directed that the opinion apply only to publications issued after June 30, 1936.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1935, decades before Oklahoma replaced its original Rules of Professional Conduct (patterned on the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics) with the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct (adopted 1988) and the later Ethics 2000 revisions. The strict limits it placed on law-list listings and lawyer advertising were later narrowed by constitutional decisions on lawyer advertising, beginning with Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977). Subsequent rule amendments and case law 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 Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance.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: Could a lawyer be listed in a directory that bonded the listed attorneys?

A: Not under this opinion. The Board held that a law list guaranteeing its listees' fidelity by bond was not a reputable law list, so a lawyer could not properly be listed in it.

Q: Why was a bonded-fidelity listing improper?

A: The opinion reasoned that a lawyer may not insure his own fidelity by bond, and a list that does it for him does what he may not do himself; it also said substituting a bond for integrity undercuts a core attribute of professional standing.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied Rule 45 of the canon-era Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct, governing the content of a lawyer's professional card and its insertion in a reputable law list, drawn from the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics. It predates the Model Rules and made no Model Rule citation.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Rule 45 (1929 Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct): a lawyer's professional card may state only his name, profession, address, telephone number, and special branch practiced, and may be inserted in a reputable law list.

Other opinions cited:

• ABA Committee on Commercial Trade and Commercial Law, 1923 report (Vol. XLVIII Annual Report 1923, pp. 285, 60): condemning the bonding of attorneys for faithful performance of their duties.
• New York County Lawyers Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, Question 239: concurring in the ABA committee's disapproval.

See also

• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 92: Paid photograph and name in a newspaper edition

Source

• Landing page: https://www.okbar.org/ethics/ethics-opinion-no-94/

Original opinion text

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

Adopted September 27, 1935

A member of the Bar has inquired as to whether or not it is proper to have his name inserted in a law list which guarantees to its users the fidelity of its listees through bond or other similar means.

In response:

The Committee of the American Bar Association on Commercial Trade and Commercial Law in its report to the 1923 annual meeting of the Association condemned the bonding of attorneys in the faithful performance of their duties as attorneys and recommend that a resolution be adopted to that effect (Vol. XLVIII Annual Report 1923, p. 285). The report was adopted by the Association (same volume, page 60). It was said by the Committee that this matter of use of attorneys' names for advertising purposes (i. e., lists of bonded attorneys) should not meet with the approval of the Association, and that it is contrary to the dignity of the profession and detracts from it for an attorney to have advertised that he is a guaranteed lawyer in a collection agency list in order that he may get credit for faithfulness in his business, upon the ground that such a custom is beneath the honor and dignity of the profession. The Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York County Lawyers Association in answer to Question 239, concurred in the disapproval of the committee of the American Bar Association.

The Board of Governors concurs in the views expressed by both of the aforesaid committees.

Rule 45 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar provides:

"A lawyer's professional card may with propriety contain only a statement of his name (and those of his lawyer associates) profession, address, telephone number and special branch of the profession practiced. The insertion of such card in a reputable law list is not condemned and it may there give reference or name clients for whom the lawyer is counsel, with their permission."

It is not proper professional conduct for a member of the bar to directly insure his fidelity to his client by a means of a bond, guaranty, or other similar means. Therefore, the list is not reputable because it does for the lawyer that which he might not do for himself.

Members of the bar should be employed on the basis of merit only, that is upon the basis of capacity and integrity. The bonding or guaranteeing of the fidelity of a member of the bar by a third person substitutes the obligation of the bond or guaranty for the element of integrity, one of the principal attributes of professional standing.

This opinion to be applicable only as to publications issued subsequent to June 30, 1936.