Formal Opinion 71
Use of Watermark in Legal Stationery
(1960)

The Legal Ethics Committee has considered your letter of February 2,1960, together with the enclosed samples; these samples show the name of a firm or company by watermark in the stationery. You state that it is proposed to sell this type of stationery to law firms and attorneys. You ask whether it would in any way conflict with the Canons of Professional Ethics preventing advertising by attorneys to furnish this type of stationery with the watermark showing the name of the law firm or the attorney in the stationery as illustrated by the samples.

The prohibition created by the Canons of Ethics and particularly Canon 27, is against advertising by attorneys, and the use of the firm name and the names of attorneys, together with the addresses and telephone numbers on legal stationery is permissible under the Canons.

It is the opinion of the Committee that the watermark containing the name of the law firm or the name of the attorney in legal stationery to be used only for the purpose of legal transactions would not conflict with nor violate the Canons of Professional Ethics.