The NYSBA traces its roots back to November 21, 1876. By an act of the New York State Legislature, the NYSBA was incorporated on May 2, 1877. Headquartered in Albany, New York, the NYSBA has grown to 74,000 members including more than 18,000 members residing outside of the state of New York.
Members practice in every area of the law including real property law, litigation, corporate law, trusts and estates law, business law, and general practice. Members are partners and associates, judges and academics, solo practitioners, and small and large firm practitioners.
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), is a nonprofit professional association offering membership to attorneys on a voluntary basis. The organization seeks to elevate the standards of integrity in the legal profession while it cultivates the science of jurisprudence.
The NYSBA is not the official New York Bar and is not responsible for attorney licenses or registration. Instead, to search for an attorney, you must use the “attorney search" feature on the New York State Unified Court System (USC) website.
To search the UCS database for an attorney in New York, you must enter the attorney’s first or last name. You can sort the search result by city, state, registration number, registration status or year admitted.
New York Attorneys listed in the USC database are listed by the name that corresponds to their name in the Appellate Division Admissions file. If you are unable to find the attorney's information using the database, then contact the Attorney Registration Unit of the NYS Office of Court Administration.
Contact Information
New York State Bar Association (NYSBA)After adopting the Canons of Ethics in 1920, the rules for legal ethics became the Code of Professional Responsibility and in 2001. The Code of Professional Responsibility adopted changes addressing multidisciplinary practice.
Effective April 1, 2009, the administrative committee of the New York courts adopted a modified version of the Model Rules.
The New York State Bar Association houses twenty-five (25) specialized substantive law sections as well as more than sixty (60) standing, special, and other committees including:
The publications of the NYSBA include:
The Lawyer Referral Service makes referrals to attorneys in Upstate and Western New York through its hotline at 800-342-3661.
For more than 140 years, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has shaped the development of law and responded to the demands of the legal profession. Members enjoy:
Classes of membership in the NYSBA include:
Officers in the NYSBA include:
The House of Delegates can establish additional offices. To be nominated to become the president-elect, the candidate must be a member of the House of Delegates or have served as a member of the House of Delegates within five years before the nomination.
Additional Resources
Bar Associations in New York - Visit the website of the New York State Unified Court System to find a list of statewide bar associations, local associations, and court-sponsored volunteer lawyer programs.
Find an Attorney in New York - Visit the New York State Attorney General’s website to find resources that help the public search for attorneys. The NY Attorney General does not represent the victims of crime and is not permitted to provide them with legal advice. The resources listed include The State Bar of New York, The National Crime Victim Bar, and the New York Courts.
This article was last updated on Monday, February 3, 2020.
