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IT IS NOT PROPER FOR A LAWYER'S NAME TO APPEAR AS "LEGAL COUNSEL"
ON THE LETTERHEAD OF A COMMUNITY'S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WHERE THE
LAWYER IS NEITHER AN OFFICER OR DIRECTOR OF THE ORGANIZATION NOR
DOES HE CHARGE FOR LEGAL SERVICES RENDERED THE ORGANIZATION IN THE
NORMAL COURSE OF ITS AFFAIRS.
QUESTION
Inquiry
is made as to the propriety of the following listing on the letterhead
of a junior Chamber of Commerce, following the listing of the names
and occupations of its officers and directors:
"Legal
Counselor
John Doe
Attorney at Law"
The
inquirer states that he is neither an officer or director of the
organization but is a member, and that he will receive no compensation
for legal services involved in advising on various items in the
normal course of business conducted by the Jaycees.
DISCUSSION
At the outset, it is apparent that even though the question were
to be answered in the affirmative the words "Attorney at Law"
appearing below the name and the designation is surplusage and therefore
objectionable so should be deleted. The occupation of the individual
is already shown in the designation "Legal Counselor"--as
a matter of fact, the preferable designation would be "Legal
Counsel" rather than "Legal Counselor".
The question remains whether, under the Code of Professional Responsibility,
it is proper to have any designation and name at all on the clients'
letterhead. In an early informal opinion of the ABA's Committee
on Professional Ethics, that Committee ruled that a law firm may
not allow itself to be listed as counsel for a Community Chest (Inf.
Op. No. 79). In Formal Opinion 285 (1951) the Committee held that
in the absence of special circumstances a law firm should not permit
a manufacturers' association for which it is counsel to list the
firm name on the association's letterhead or in its periodic bulletin
to members. This opinion drew a distinction between listing the
name of counsel on communications directed to its members or stockholders
and communications or documents which would be disseminated to the
general public. "...In other cases it may doubtless be considered
as normal for a corporation or association to specify the name of
its counsel, in order that the members or stockholders may be satisfied
as to the competency of its legal department to advise it on corporate
or association legal problems. Thus it would seem proper for a corporation
in its annual report to stockholders to specify, along with the
names of general officers of the corporation, those of its general
counsel. On the other hand it would not appear to be proper for
the corporation or association to specify such counsels name on
its letterhead, which would be directed, not to its stockholders,
but to the general public. A lawyer engaged in general practice
would, therefore, not normally be justified in acquiescing in the
inclusion of his name as general counsel on the letterhead of the
corporation or manufacturing association..."
The pertinent provision of the Code which became effective in Nebraska
on May 1, 1970, is DR 2-102. This disciplinary rule permits use
of name and profession on letterheads in certain specified situations,
including the following as set forth in DR 2-102(A)(4): "...A
lawyer or law firm may be designated as "General Counsel"
or by similar professional reference on stationery of a client if
he or the firm devotes a substantial amount of professional time
in the representation of that client..."
It would appear to follow from the foregoing that if the condition
of devoting "a substantial amount of professional time"
is not met, then such designation on the client's letterhead would
not be sanctioned.
This Committee questions the reasoning behind the rule above quoted
which permits the answer to depend upon the ambiguous condition
of what is "a substantial amount of professional time",
but in any event, based upon the facts as presented in this inquiry,
the inquiring lawyer presumably will not be devoting a substantial
amount of professional time to the affairs of the Jaycees, and it
is the opinion of the Committee that his name and profession should
not be included on the client's letterhead.
75-6
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