伦理意见277

原澳博app事务所保留退出合伙人姓名

澳博app事务所可以在其名称中保留原合伙人的姓名, except where the former partner is practicing law elsewhere or where the firm is prohibited by law from retaining the name.

适用的规则

• 规则7.1(关于澳博app服务的通讯)
• 规则7.5(公司名称及信头)

调查

澳博appB是澳博app事务所a的创始合伙人 & 她现在计划与该公司断绝关系. 她不确定从A公司辞职后是否会继续从事澳博app工作 & 但是，不管怎样，她希望在她离开后将她的名字从公司的名字中删除. 她询问《澳博app》是否要求澳博app事务所这样做, 应她的要求, 一旦她辞职，就把她的名字从公司名字上去掉.

讨论

This inquiry presents a particular aspect of a broader question concerning the circumstances under which a law firm may ethically retain in its name the name of a lawyer no longer associated with the firm. 相关的职业行为准则是7.5(a)，规定:

澳博app不得使用事务所名称, 信头, 或其他违反规则7的专业名称.1. A trade name may be used by a lawyer in private practice if it does not imply a connection with a government agency or with a public or charitable legal services organization 和 is not otherwise in violation of 规则7.1.

规则7的有关部分.1并入规则7.5(a)如下:

(a) A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services. 如果一种信息是虚假的或具有误导性的:

(1)包含对事实或法律的重大失实陈述, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading; or

(2) Contains an assertion about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services that cannot be substantiated.

综上所述, these provisions can be distilled to a prohibition on the use of a law firm name that is false or misleading. 关于已离开澳博app事务所的澳博app，对规则7的评论[1].5说, “it is misleading to use the name of a lawyer not associated with the firm or a predecessor of the firm.”

摘自评论[1], 和 its apparent premise that the use of a lawyer’s name in a firm name would imply the presence there of that lawyer, 人们可以得出结论，在公司名称中包含……的名字是不道德的 任何 因离职、退休或死亡而不再与事务所有关联的澳博app. 在每一种情况下, 公司可能错误地暗示该澳博app仍与公司有联系.

但至少对于退休或去世的合伙人, ethics law has been clear since at least the time of the predecessor Code of Professional Responsibility that the names of such partners could ethically be included in law firm names. 前纪律规则2-102(B)规定，“如果另有合法, 公司可以使用as, 或者继续包含进去, its name the name or names of one or more deceased or retired members of the firm or a predecessor firm in a continuing line of succession.“前执委会(道德考虑)2-11对这项规定作了如下扩展:

For m任何 years some law firms have used a firm name retaining one or more names of deceased or retired partners 和 such practice is not improper if the firm is a bona fide successor of a firm in which the deceased or retired person was a member, 如果使用该名称是由法律或合同授权的, 如果公众不被误导. 然而, the name of a partner who withdraws from a firm but continues to practice law should be omitted from the firm name in order to avoid misleading the public.

The current 职业行为准则 continue this acknowledgment that it is not false or misleading 本身 在公司名称中加入与该公司不再有关联的合伙人的姓名, 尽管他们是通过将这种用法定性为商品名称来实现的. 规则7.5(a)明确承认澳博app可以使用商品名称执业, 评论[1]指出，“任何公司的名称，包括已故合伙人的名称，都是, 严格地说, 商品名称. 使用这些名称来指定澳博app事务所已被证明是一种有用的识别手段.”

所以，至少对已故和退休的冠名合伙人来说，规则7.5(a) recognizes that its concern about falsely implying the presence of a lawyer no longer associated with the firm does not cover all situations, 和 must yield in some circumstances to another consideration—that a firm name often only identifies a group of lawyers practicing together in a definable group, 这并不一定意味着冠名合伙人自己也在那里执业.¹

道德的观点, 在哥伦比亚特区和其他地方, have long recognized that it is permissible for law firms to use trade names that include the names of deceased or retired partners. 意见No. 224(12月. 17, 1991), this Committee determined that a lawyer is not precluded from continuing to use a former partnership name, 他的合伙人退休或以其他方式离开了公司. 同样地，在第6号正式意见中. 90-357 (1990), 美国澳博app协会承认如果是澳博app, 谁是澳博app事务所的冠名合伙人, 退休是为了成为“澳博app”吗,澳博app的姓名可以保留在事务所的名称中. 其他司法管辖区也得出了同样的结论. 看到 道德通讯. 弥撒. 酒吧协会., Op. No. 81-5, (April 14, 1981); 和 Comm. 论密歇根州澳博app的职业道德和司法道德.非正式的. (1984年4月30日).

属于“商号”例外, 然而, the use of the deceased or retired partner’s name must be permitted under the law applicable to one’s property value in the commercial use of his or her name. 这样的使用可以, 视情况而定, 受普通法、合伙法或公司法管辖. 看,e.g.， nercesan v. 豪玛斯地毯企业有限公司., 60 N.Y.2d 875, 458 N.E.2d 822 (1983). 如果澳博app事务所, 在这样的法律下, 没有法定权利使用已故或退休澳博app的姓名, 那么在公司名称中包含澳博app的名字将是不合法的, 因此，如果公司这样使用它，就会产生误导. 看,e.g.，意大利面食屋v. Tuma, 689 S.W.2d 690 (Mo. Ct. 应用程序. 1985); 萨尔茨伯格v. 菲什曼, 462 N.E.2d 901. 应用程序. 1984). 另请参阅 《澳博app》EC 2-11(上文引述).

在这方面, the consent of a retired partner or the estate of a deceased partner to continued use of the lawyer’s name is an ethical consideration only if such consent is necessary to provide the law firm with the necessary legal authority to continue to use the name. 在下列情况下，适用法律可能不要求该等具体同意, 例如, a partnership agreement gives the law firm the continuing right to use the lawyer’s name after his departure from the firm, 或者事务所获得了继续使用澳博app姓名的普通法权利.

The continued use of the name of a withdrawn partner not practicing elsewhere is akin to that of a deceased or retired partner—neither is associated with the law firm, 从事法律工作也是如此. 在公司名称中加入已故或退休合伙人的名字是否符合道德, 我们不明白为什么对于一个孤僻的伴侣来说情况会不同. 在两种情况下, 这家澳博app事务所的名字是个商标名, 和 not one which asserts the presence of the name partners as practicing lawyers with the firm.

然而，它具有误导性(因此违反了规则7).(a)在事务所名称中包括在其他地方执业的澳博app的姓名。. 在这种情况下, 按照规则, the possible identifying value of the firm name as 商品名称 yields to the greater possibility that the public will be misled by retention of the departed lawyer’s name in the firm name.

在我们面前的具体询价, 然后, the ethical propriety of the law firm’s continued use of the inquirer’s name after her departure from the firm (和 over her objection) would depend on:

(1)该等使用是否获普通法授权, 公司的合伙协议或其他, 和

(二)澳博app是否在其他地方执业.

如果两个条件都满足, 那么问询人不同意使用她的名字在道德上是无关紧要的.

调查没有. 97-2-7
通过:1997年11月19日

1. The New York Court of 应用程序eals even rejects the premise that inclusion of a lawyer’s name in a firm name implies 任何thing about that lawyer’s practice. 在纽约刑事和民事法庭，澳博app澳博app诉. 雅各比，472 n.n.Y.S.2d 890 (1984), New York bar authorities sought to restrain the use in New York of a law firm name that did not include the name of 任何 lawyer licensed to practice in New York, 认为这样做是误导. 法院驳回了这一论点:
  We . . . 在法律上认定公司名称由姓氏组成, 没有更多的, does not constitute 任何 holding out that there are individual partners bearing those surnames who are admitted to practice in New York, 或者公司里确实有这样的合伙人, 无论承认. . . . [T]he firm name is an institutional description 和 its use constitutes no representation that 任何one bearing a surname corresponding to the names in the firm title is available to render professional services. Id. at 893. (强调说.)