1990 Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct
RULE 7.5 Firm Names and Letterheads
[revisions to 1990 Rule are
indicated as follows: text deleted from the 1990 Rule is shown by
strikethrough;
additions to the 1990 Rule are shown in red]
(a) A lawyer who assumes a judicial,
legislative, or public executive or administrative post or office shall not
permit the lawyer's name to remain in the name of a law firm or to be used
in professional notices of the firm during any substantial period in which
the lawyer is not actively and regularly practicing law as a member of the
firm, and during such period other members of the firm shall not use the
lawyer's name in the firm name or in professional notices of the firm.
(b) A law firm shall not be formed or
continued between or among lawyers licensed in different jurisdictions
unless all enumerations of the members and associates of the firm on its
letterhead and in other permissible listings make clear the jurisdictional
limitations on those members and associates of the firm not licensed to
practice in all listed jurisdictions; however, the same firm name may be
used in each jurisdiction.
(c) (a)
A lawyer shall not use a firm
name, letterhead or other professional designation that violates Rule 7.1.
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 and is not otherwise in violation of Rule 7.1.
is not misleading. A lawyer or law firm using a trade name in any
advertising must include the name of at least one lawyer responsible for its
contents.
(b) A law firm with offices in more than one jurisdiction may use the same name or other professional designation in each jurisdiction, but identification of the lawyers in an office of the firm shall indicate the jurisdictional limitations on those not licensed to practice in the jurisdiction where the office is located.
(c) The name of a lawyer holding a public office shall not be used in the name of a law firm, or in communications on its behalf, during any substantial period in which the lawyer is not actively and regularly practicing with the firm.
(d) Lawyers may state or imply that they practice in
a partnership or other organization only when that is the fact.
Adopted February 8, 1990, effective August 1, 1990.