ETHICS OPINION 591-1971 LETTERHEAD; DISTINCTIVE MONOGRAM

NUMBER 591

QUESTION.

 

A lawyer inquires if it would be proper to use a letterhead containing, in addition to the names of the firm and its members, a distinctive monogram about one and a half inches square.

 

ANSWER.

DR 2-102 (A) (4) provides, in part, as follows:

 

“DR 2-102 (A) A lawyer or law firm shall not use professional cards, professional announcement cards, office signs, letterheads, telephone directory listings, law lists, legal directory listings, or similar professional notices or devices , except that the following may be used if they are in dignified form:

 

“(4) A letterhead of a lawyer identifying him by name and as a lawyer, and giving his addresses, telephone numbers, the name of his law firm, …. A letterhead of a law firm may also give the names of members and associates. . . . . . . . . . “

The first sentence of DR 2-102 (A) (4) is paraphrased in the following language in Wise, Legal Ethics, Second Edition, p. 145:

 

“As a safe generality, the more nearly the letterhead conforms to the conventional, the customary, the usual, and the ordinary, the safer its use. The usual letterhead, of course, is in quiet good taste, with normal, modest-sized lettering, giving the name of the individual or firm, the address, the telephone number, and occasionally a cable code name.”

 

The proposed monogram does not fall within the limits of permissible practice under BR 2-102 (A) (4), and is, therefore disapproved.

 

July 7, 1971.