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NMRA 20-113

Not legal advice. Verify against official sources before relying on this text in any legal matter.

Rule 20-113 Business stationery and cards.

← Previous Rule 20-112: Accountability. Next → Rule 20-114: Rules of Professional Conduct; compliance.

Rule Text

The letterhead of a lawyer or law firm may not include the name of a paralegal. However, a lawyer or law firm may permit its name to appear on the business card of a paralegal, provided the paralegal's capacity is clearly indicated.

Amendment history: Approved, effective September 1, 1981; as amended, effective January 30, 2004.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Law firms cannot put a paralegal's name on their official letterhead. This means when a lawyer or law firm sends letters or documents on their letterhead, only the names of lawyers can appear there, not paralegals.

However, paralegals can have their own business cards that include the law firm's name. The catch is that the card must clearly show the person is a paralegal, not a lawyer. This helps make sure clients and others know exactly who they are talking to and what role that person plays at the firm.

Committee Notes

Committee commentary. — Rule 16-705 NMRA of the Rules of Professional Conduct specifies what information may be given on a lawyer's letterhead.

A lawyer may permit a paralegal to sign correspondence on his letterhead or on the letterhead of a law firm, as long as the nonlawyer status of the paralegal is clearly disclosed by a title accompanying the signature, such as "paralegal". Moreover, the business card of a paralegal may contain the name, address and telephone number of the paralegal's employer, whether a firm or an individual lawyer. However, the card must on its face be clearly intended to identify the paralegal and not the lawyer or law firm.

The distinction between business cards and letterheads was drawn in ABA [Comm. on Professional Ethics, Opinions, Nos.] 909 (1966) and 1000 (1967). The opinions distinguish business cards and letterheads on the basis that the card is the employee's, basically designed to identify the employee and to state by whom the person is employed, as a reinforcement of what one would expect an employee to convey in an oral statement, not the professional card of the lawyer or law firm. A lawyer who permits the lawyer's name or the name of a law firm to appear on the business card of a paralegal is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the card meets the same standards of dignity and accuracy as would be required for the lawyer's own card.

← Previous Rule 20-112: Accountability. Next → Rule 20-114: Rules of Professional Conduct; compliance.