Related Articles

Images

And Just Where Are All Those ‘Associates’?

State won’t let solos imply they have an office full of lawyers

By DOUGLAS S. MALAN

What’s in a name? Apparently enough to get lawyers in trouble if they’re suggesting they have more legal resources than they actually do.

Like the law firm equivalent of embellishing a resume, solo practitioners who tack “and associates” onto their firm’s title actually are running afoul of ethical rules.

Consider the case of Hartford attorney Joseph Moniz, who was the subject of a grievance complaint earlier this year involving his alleged failure to refund the balance of a retainer. While looking into that issue, the Statewide Grievance Committee also found, according to its report on the case, that Moniz “used the firm name of Moniz & Associates when there were never any other attorneys employed by the firm.”

So are grievance officials beating a path to small firms to make sure they, in fact, have more than one lawyer? Not really. Michael P. Bowler, bar counsel for the Judicial Branch, said he doesn’t have the time or resources for such an effort.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to turn a blind eye. “We’re taking a stricter look at advertising,” said Bowler, following the July 2007 implementation of rules governing what lawyers can and cannot say about their practices.

And so questions about a firm’s name can pop up in other grievance investigations or in the auditing of lawyer advertisements. When problems have appeared, Bowler usually talks to the lawyer or law firm about making a change. “We’ve never had any disciplinary action [based specifically] on ad rules,” he said.

Hard To Conceal

New Canaan real estate and corporate attorney Michael J. Franco didn’t use the word “associates” when he was a solo but added it when other lawyers joined him 15 years ago. He said the public should easily be able to tell if a lawyer is working alone or with colleagues.

“If they ever visit the office, they’re going to know,” said Franco. “I’m not sure how long you could conceal that.” And law firm letterhead usually indicates how many lawyers are around, he noted.

In response to the new advertising rules, Thomas Fahey had to change his letterhead and dump any supplies that bore his firm’s old name— Fahey, Landolina & Associates. The two-lawyer firm in Windsor Locks also had to alert insurance carriers to its new name of Fahey & Landolina, Attorneys LLC. A name change, said Fahey, “is a major deal, especially for the small guys. It can be a hassle.”

Small law firms can end up with misleading names when their one or two associates depart or when they add “associates” to the shingle based on future expansion goals. The thinking is that the word connotes a sense of depth to the consumer.

“I don’t know if anyone is really trying to defraud the public,” Fahey said. “But the rules are the rules. We just decided the easiest thing to do is change the name.”

Benjamin Potok and Joseph McDonald opened McDonald Law Associates in New Britain and Shelton in January with two attorneys and a full-time paralegal. To Potok, the word “associates” refers to anyone who works in the office, not just the lawyers.

“We want clients to be able to count on the associates in the office just as they would the attorneys,” Potok said. “We’re holding ourselves out that this is a team effort.”

But Bowler isn’t buying that broader definition of “associate.” As far as his office is concerned, “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.”

That calls into question the use of deceased partners’ names in a law firm title, which Bowler said is generally allowed. “We’ve always taken the position that dead lawyers in good standing are better than lawyers who never existed at all,” he said.

But what about a law firm that once had two associates, now has one and continues to use the plural? “We don’t hold screws to their thumbs on plurals, as a general rule,” Bowler said. “There’ve been bigger fish to fry.”•