The Florida Bar Ethics Department receives numerous inquiries regarding the propriety of law firm names. These inquiries are made through requests for written opinions, Ethics Hotline calls, and advertising filings. This article attempts to highlight some commonly asked questions regarding firm names.

Rule 4-7.21, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, is the ethics rule regarding firm names and letterhead. Generally, the rule prohibits use of a firm name that would otherwise violate the substantive advertising rules of The Florida Bar in Rules 4-7.11 through 4-7.15. 4-7.21(a). For example, the rule would prohibit firm names that are blatantly false or misleading (4-7.13(a)), firm names that characterize the quality of a lawyer’s representation where the characterization is not objectively verifiable (4-7.13(b)(3)), or that claim an area of practice that the lawyer or law firm do not practice or intend to practice (4-7.13(b)(4)). These are only a few examples of firm names that would violate substantive advertising rules in 4-7.11 through 4-7.15 and, thus, 4-7.21(a).

One frequent question the Ethics Department receives involves use of the designation “& Associates.” Specifically, sole practitioners frequently ask if they may use the designation. If a sole practitioner uses “& Associates” as part of its firm name, this is an example of a misleading firm name. The Florida Supreme Court has addressed this issue in The Florida Bar v. Fetterman, 439 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 1983). The court in Fetterman noted the definition of an “associate” as a “salaried employee that is not a member of the law firm,” and held that it is inappropriate and misleading to use a firm name with “Associates” when the firm does not, and has not had, associates. Specific to the facts in Fetterman, the court found that because the respondent had two associates at the time the firm was founded and continued to employ at least one associate, the firm name was permissible. Thus, to use the designation “& Associates,” a lawyer or law firm must have at least two associates or continue to employ at least one associate where the firm had multiple associates at one point in time.