The Florida Bar News August 8, 2024

Using a fictitious name as your official Bar name? It’s time to change it.

Earlier this year, the Florida Supreme Court amended Bar Rule 1-3.3, which requires each member of The Florida Bar designate an official Bar name, mailing address, business telephone number, and business email address.

The court amended the rule to include, “The official bar name may not be a fictitious name,” and added a new subsection (c) that makes clear the rule does not prohibit a lawyer from using a law firm name that does not include the lawyer’s official Bar name in compliance with other Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. Florida Bar members also must practice only under their official Bar name.

For example, if a lawyer’s legal name is Robert Smith-Barnes, you can’t practice as Bob Barnes.

Under the rules, members may change their official Bar name only by sending a request to the Supreme Court of Florida and the court must approve all official Bar name changes.

The Bar’s Membership Records Department is responding to inquiries about the amended rule by suggesting that lawyers change their official Bar name to their legal name, in order to ensure complete compliance with the rule.

So, how do you change your official Bar name? The Florida Supreme Court Clerk’s office requires the following: Send a letter or a completed Name Change Form to the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office requesting your name be changed on the roll of attorneys. The request may be emailed to FSC@flcourts.org or mailed to Florida Supreme Court, Clerk’s Office, 500 S Duval St, Tallahassee FL 32399. Your request should include: your name as currently listed with The Florida Bar; your new name clearly divided into first, middle, and last names; and your Florida Bar number. If you wish for the name change order to be returned by mail, rather than to your registered email address, you must include a self-addressed stamped envelope with your mailed request. Do not send any personal documents, such as copies of identification documents or marriage/dissolution documents, with this form. Such documents are not needed to process a name change request.

The court also added a subsection (b) to the rule requiring each member of The Florida Bar to notify the Bar “of all other states, including the District of Columbia, in which that member is licensed to practice law.”

The amendments were included in a rules package the court approved in May in In Re: Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar — Miscellaneous Petition, Case No. SC2024-0030. The amended official name rule became effective July 8.

VIEWS AND CONCLUSIONS EXPRESSED IN ARTICLES HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS AND NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF FLORIDA BAR STAFF, OFFICIALS, OR BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FLORIDA BAR.