Legal Ethics
Solos Cautioned Against Tacking ‘Associates’ to Firm Name
Posted Nov 3, 2008 1:47 PM CST
By Molly McDonough
Solo practitioners who pump up their practices by using the word "associates" in their firm names may be running afoul of ethics rules, at least in Connecticut.
A report in the Connecticut Law Tribune equates such a practice to embellishing a resume.
The paper cites the case of Joseph Moniz, a Hartford solo who was the subject of a grievance complaint. When state legal ethics authorities looked into the complaint, they discovered that Moniz had used the name "Moniz & Associates" even though there weren't any other attorneys employed at the firm.
The associates issue is popping up because of relatively new lawyer advertising rules that went into effect in July 2007.
The rules prompted one lawyer, Thomas Fahey, to change his letterhead from Fahey, Landolina & Associates to Fahey & Landolina, Attorneys LLC.
Another lawyer told the Tribune that he counts the paralegal in his office as an associate of the firm.
“We want clients to be able to count on the associates in the office just as they would the attorneys,” Benjamin Potok told the paper. “We’re holding ourselves out that this is a team effort.”
But that justification may not pass the smell test for Michael P. Bowler, bar counsel for the Judicial Branch. The Tribune noted that from his office's perspective, "the word ‘associates’ carries the image of a lawyer in the context of a law firm. When you advertise you’re working in concert with other lawyers, you’re not making a truthful representation.”
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Comments
William A. Martin
Nov 7, 2008 7:03 AM CST
Arkansas has had this interpretation since we adopted revised Rules of Professional Conduct around 2003.
Rule 7.5 has comment 3 which reads:
“[3] The addition of the words “and associates” following the name of a lawyer in a firm name implies to the public that three or more lawyers are practicing law together in a firm. In a law firm context “associate” has come to mean a lawyer employed with or connected with a firm who usually is not a partner. “Associates” is not a proper term to use in a firm name to mean nonlawyer assistants such as secretaries, investigators, law student interns, and paraprofessionals. In using a firm name, a solo practitioner shall not use a title such as “Smith and Associates” as a firm name. If only two lawyers are practicing law together in a firm the singular word “associate” may be used in the firm name with the name of one of the lawyers. If three or more lawyers are practicing law together in a firm the plural word “associates” may be used in the firm name with the name of one of the lawyers.”
This comment grew out of a situation in which a lawyer used “Doe and Associates.” She died suddenly and it was discoveed there were no other lawyers in the firm. Clients had great difficulty getting their cases transferred efficiently.
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David Conwill
Nov 7, 2008 7:35 AM CST
Thank you, Professor Martha Moore, for making this commonsense rule a basic part of our Professional Responsibility course at Cooley!
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UM
Nov 7, 2008 8:00 AM CST
Can you get a job after going to Cooley is the question?
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GA lawyer
Nov 7, 2008 8:33 AM CST
UM - that was uncalled for, and juvenile. As far as I am from Michigan, I know one very effective attorney from Cooley.
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Dinbat
Nov 7, 2008 8:36 AM CST
UM- answer is yes- as a manager at Target…never mind that Cooley costs around $100k.
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Paschal Ukpabi, Esq.
Nov 7, 2008 9:02 AM CST
What determines your effectiveness as a lawyer? For me, it is your ability to take care of your clients. If you are talking about high profile jobs after passing the bar, what determines your chances is not how smart you are, but your alma matter; where principals and other partners hire lawyers who went to their law school. I am a Cooley graduate; I am in solo practice. At the end of the day, I am my own boss. Some of the best, and even richest lawyers in this country did not go to the so-called top law school. Ask Willie Gary of Florida or Geoffrey Feiger of Michigan. These guys are my role models. We sahll see.
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Law Student in MA
Nov 7, 2008 9:08 AM CST
And to think I believed that comments on an ABA publication would be mature and tactful! I guess I was really off-base with that assumption. Pretty disgusting.
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Kevin
Nov 7, 2008 9:24 AM CST
UM is obviously either a 1L or not even in law school. Anyone with any experience in the legal profession knows that amazing lawyers can hail from any law school.
However, of course, if one only measures success by working at a top Vault or AmLaw firm, that may be a different story. Enjoy your soulless and empty work, surrounded by people just as vacant and boring as you are! The rest of us from those “Third Tier” law schools are doing quite well for ourselves, thank you ver much. :)
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Cooley Grad
Nov 7, 2008 9:45 AM CST
Justice Markey of the Michigan Court of Appeals is also a proud Cooley grad. Cooley may let anybody and everybody in, but they don’t let just anybody graduate—the number of my graduating class was 20% of the number of my starting class. I made good contacts while there and ended up in one of the top 5 law firms in Michigan. Cooley diplomas don’t mean you have a free ride like UM diplomas, but Cooley grads can definitely be successful.
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R
Nov 7, 2008 9:54 AM CST
This is a good law, and I look forward to something similar being adopted in my state. I’m tired of dealing with all these “and Associates” types whose only real “associate” is their answering machine - which is usually full.
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Sheila
Nov 7, 2008 9:58 AM CST
RETURNING TO THE SUBJECT: does anyone agree with me that “Law Offices of [Solo Practitioner]” is probably in the same category as adding “associates” (assuming, of course, that we are not talking aobut someone who physically has more than one office in more than one community).
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AZ attorney
Nov 7, 2008 10:29 AM CST
I wonder how the court would feel about “Moniz Law Group” as opposed to “Moniz & Associates”? Would they feel that the “Group” also suggests multiple attorneys or simply a team of lawyer and paralegals? I’ve seen a few “Law Groups” here in Arizona that consist of no one other than the lawyer.
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Michigan Law Grad
Nov 7, 2008 10:47 AM CST
While in Ann Arbor, I met and befriended a few Detroit College of Law students and sat in on a few courses to compare class techniques. The biggest difference between DCL and Michigan was that at DCL, they treated the students rather strictly, and more or less lectured to them, whereas at UofM, they treated us like a privileged class—i.e., highly respectful—and relied exclusively on the Socratic method. In the end, I have a lot of respect for the DCL alumni I befriended, many of whom had to struggle to get jobs in law firms but otherwise are doing well. I have a friend who went to Cooley too and she ended up working for a small firm but is doing well too. Cooley and DCL (now Michigan State Law School) serve a critical role in providing legal services for those who cannot afford the high rates at big law firms.
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Laura Suttell
Nov 7, 2008 11:20 AM CST
I agree with your point, Sheila.
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Charles Schwartz
Nov 7, 2008 11:33 AM CST
“Law Offices of” certainly could suggest that there’s more than one, but I have to think it’s not on the same scale as “and Associates,” since it’s simply impossible (as the term is commonly used in this context in the legal community) for a solo practicioner to have Associates.
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Another Michigan Law Grad
Nov 7, 2008 11:42 AM CST
To MLG: “whereas at UofM, they treated us like a privileged class—i.e., highly respectful—and relied exclusively on the Socratic method”
What have you been smoking? I thought the students got treated like crap there. Several professors were patronizing, petty, tyrannical jerks. I haven’t donated a single red cent to UMich Law, and never plan to. A classmate of mine sent in a single penny alumni contribution once as a joke. My other classmates have, like me, refused to donate, having had similar experiences as I did. Maybe things changed since my graduation but I always though Umich Law professors and staff had the worst of both the Ivory Tower and Government Worker mentalities. I turned down a bunch of fine choices to go to UMich Law and I have regretted it ever since.
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Another Michigan Law Grad
Nov 7, 2008 11:46 AM CST
to MLG: “Cooley and DCL (now Michigan State Law School) serve a critical role in providing legal services for those who cannot afford the high rates at big law firms.”
That’s a pompous statement and a helluva generalization. I know plenty of fellow UMich Law grads who “struggle to get jobs” even now, years after graduation. I know plenty of 3d tier law school grads who are leading lights of the trial bar, outearning their BigLaw peers by several orders of magnitude. You need to get off your UMich Law high horse. It’s not as gilded or as high as you think. And that comes from a fellow alum.
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greg
Nov 7, 2008 12:04 PM CST
BACK TO THE SUBJECT: Illinois has a similar rule on the books - if you say “& Associates,” you’d better have some. Same thing if you say “Law Offices of…” - you’d better have more than one office. To address another’s question, if I hear “Smith Law Group” I presume that there’s more than one of something - office, attorneys, etc. It’s sufficiently nebulous that you can’t really presume anything other than there’s more than one of something. If I walked into the offices of “Smith Law Group” and saw one attorney and a receptionist, I’d feel deceived.
On the issue of law schools: if you bank on a school’s reputation as an indicator of how good a lawyer someone is, you’re a fool. Good lawyers - and bad - come from every school. Sadly, what law school one goes to is used as an indicator of quality by too many people. You really need to look further than that. But most people learn that lesson over time. Only recent grads and those who are insecure hide behind their law school’s reputation. The rest go out and make their own name for themselves - for good or ill.
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UM
Nov 7, 2008 12:09 PM CST
Everyone I know who went to UM has a job. Not sure what you are smoking.
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The Ghost of Thomas Cooley
Nov 7, 2008 12:17 PM CST
Please children, stop going to my law school. Ever since it instituted extension centers like a community college my aura no longer exists at the school. Instead just mail me $100k, I’ll send you a diploma, and you can go take the bar. You may then go take dog bite cases to trial. Send to: John Engler & Associates, home of all former governor lobbyists and Cooley Grad, Washington, D.C.
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Michigan Law Grad
Nov 7, 2008 12:41 PM CST
To “Another MLG”: from your choice of words, “What have you been smoking,” I can only infer you graduated back in the ‘60s, and deduce you are referring to an illicit substance and will leave it at that. When I arrived at Michigan decades later, one of my professors, in welcoming her new first-year class, declared that “all of you will land good jobs when you graduate.” She was correct. This is not to say, however, that many of my fellow alumni have not struggled, been laid off, changed careers involuntarily, or suffered similar setbacks in the years since graduation. But all in all, we were treated quite well, and I am eternally grateful for the experience of living for three wonderful years in Ann Arbor under the careful guidance of some of our nation’s greatest and most illustrious legal minds. Aren’t you?
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Val
Nov 7, 2008 1:21 PM CST
What if you have two associates and both of them quit, leaving you to practice alone until you hire replacements. Do you have to remove the “and associates” for the interim?
What if you practice out of your apartment but use the “Law Office of J. Pumpernickle?”
What if your “partnership” with other lawyers is really a every-lawyer-eats-what-he-kills, and no other lawyer in the office ever really assists you with your caseload?
What if your “partnership” includes non-equity partners?
I guess my point is: What real harm does this rule purport to curb? And isn’t that same harm implicated in several other variations—not just in the case of the solo?
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SoloSohi
Nov 7, 2008 1:58 PM CST
I guess the underlying premise is to be honest with people. This can be a very un-creative profession but if you must, here in NM I see things like “The Jones Law Firm” This, on its face can be anything from a guy living in a van stopping at accident sites to a corporate practice beehive. There, problem solved. I believe that just using the LLC, PLC or PC which is a necessary pre-requisite anyway, sends adequate signals to the public that you have something going on. If they want to know just what is going on with your practice they can schedule an appointment and find out.
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John
Nov 8, 2008 8:13 AM CST
Spell out the exact nature of the business relationship. I have seen a letterhead something like this
Smith, Jones & Johnson
Not a partnership. All attorneys are employees of XYZ Insurance Company.
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Rocco
Nov 8, 2008 10:05 AM CST
Wasn’t there a movie called “Cooley High?”
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SolutionOriented
Nov 10, 2008 11:43 AM CST
Clearly a solo practitioner who relies upon subcontracts with other law firms, particularly in areas of specialty practice is associated and therefore has associates.
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