Despite the onset of summer and the challenges facing every lawyer from the ongoing pandemic, there have been several noteworthy recent developments in the area of legal ethics.  This article will discuss three of them: the new, and about to be formally adopted version of New York Rules of Professional Conduct (“NY Rules”)  7.5, opening up the right of New York lawyers to use  tradenames; Formal Opinion 492 from the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (Opinion 492), giving helpful instruction on the subject of obligations to prospective clients; and the rather troubling  Opinion 1195 of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics (Opinion 1195).

Beginning with the real “news,” it is a pleasure to be able to report on the announced, but not yet formally adopted change to the New York Rules which significantly reform New York’s approach to a fundamental aspect of lawyer marketing. Like so much else in New York Rule 7, New York has traditionally taken a heavy-handed and restrictive approach toward what lawyers may and may not do in this realm. In the Joint Order of the Departments of the New York State Supreme Court, which is expected to be formally adopted shortly, and which very substantially rewrites and simplifies New York Rule 7.5, which currently requires that a firm name contain only the names of a current, retired or deceased partner. New York lawyers will now be permitted to use tradenames provided that they are not “false, deceptive or misleading.” The new rule does contain a few other restrictions, most notably that lawyers and law firms may not include the names of nonlawyers in their firm names. In some respects, this change merely reflects the reality that firms operating in multiple jurisdictions have for a long time been using firm names in New York that effectively amount to “tradenames” without any apparent disciplinary intervention. Nevertheless, the Chief Judges of the Appellate Divisions are to be applauded for bringing the language of the New York Rules in line with the reality of the marketplace.