Gifts for Lawyers: Desk Sets and Nameplates for a Law Office
Gifts for lawyers are easier to choose once you know which stage of the career you are marking. A law graduate usually has no office yet, a new associate has a small one, and a partner works at a desk where clients sit down to sign. This guide follows a legal career from law school graduation to retirement and says what fits each stage, with nameplate wording for every step.
Our desk sets are for offices of any kind; what is specific to an attorney is the timing and the wording.
Lawyer gifts by career stage: the short version
The examples follow one invented attorney. The figure after each line is its length, spaces and punctuation included; the plate allows 32 characters for the name and 36 for the optional title.
| Stage | Piece or set | Name line | Title line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law school graduation | A single name plate | Maya Castillo, J.D. (19) | Left blank |
| Sworn in to the bar | A single name plate | Maya Castillo, Esq. (19) | Left blank |
| Judicial clerkship | A single name plate | Maya Castillo (13) | Law Clerk (9) |
| First associate job | A set on the smaller pad | Maya Castillo (13) | Attorney at Law (15) |
| Making partner | An executive set with a document tray | Maya Castillo, Esq. (19) | Partner (7) |
| Opening a solo practice | An executive set on the smaller pad | Maya Castillo, Esq. (19) | Family Law & Mediation (22) |
| Retirement | A compact set, or a name plate | Maya Castillo, J.D. (19) | Left blank |
Before there is an office: graduation, the bar and a clerkship
Law school graduation
A law school graduate holds a J.D. and, in most cases, still has the bar exam ahead and no office. A full desk set now is a guess about a desk nobody has seen. What fits is a lawyer's desk name plate with the new degree on it, which stands on a study desk today and moves to the first office later.
A name plate on its own is ordered through Build Your Desk Set, where each piece is sold singly and shows its own price. Every name plate belongs to a model: with Luna, for example, the tool also sells a Desk Pad, a Business Card Holder and document trays in the same color, for later. Most models pair the plate with two ballpoint pens; the personalized desk name plates page lists every unit.
Passing the bar and being sworn in
Admission is the day the wording changes. By convention, Esq. and Attorney at Law are used by lawyers admitted to the bar, so a plate with either one marks the swearing-in, not the graduation. Order it once the result is known.
A judicial clerkship
A clerkship is usually a term position of a year or two in a judge's chambers, at a desk the clerk will hand on. Give something that leaves with the clerk: a single name plate with Law Clerk on the title line, or the name alone so that it outlasts the term.
The first office: a gift for a new associate
A first-year associate usually gets a modest office, sometimes a shared one, so stay with the smaller of our two desk pads, 13.4 × 18.9 in (34 × 48 cm). Every one of our compact desk sets, which have four to nine pieces, uses it; for a compact set with a nameplate, look at the Luna 8-Piece or Luna 9-Piece set.
One size up, the Vega 12-Piece Desk Set with Nameplate ($200) keeps that pad and has no document tray to crowd a small desk. Its pieces are a pen cup, a memo holder, a calendar holder (sheets not included), a business card holder, a phone stand, three coasters and a nameplate base with two ballpoint pens, in faux leather.
On the title line, Associate is accurate today and may be out of date in a few years. Attorney at Law stays true through every promotion.
A desk clients sit at: making partner or opening a practice
Making partner
A new partner often moves into a larger office where clients and colleagues sit across the desk. This is the stage for our executive desk sets, the sets of ten pieces or more. Most carry a document tray for papers waiting on a signature.
One example is the Prestige 14-Piece Desk Set with Clock ($500): a two-tier document tray, a large desk clock, a tissue holder, a business card holder and a nameplate base with two ballpoint pens, in wood veneer with faux leather components. The veneer is a thin layer of real wood, not solid wood, and the clock battery is not included. It uses the larger 15.0 × 22.8 in (38 × 58 cm) desk pad, so measure the desk first with the desk pad size guide.
Opening a solo practice
A solo practitioner's desk faces clients from the first day. The Vega 14-Piece Desk Set with Nameplate ($275) is the Vega 12 above plus two pieces for a client-facing desk, a two-tier document tray and a tissue holder, still on the smaller pad. Where each piece goes is covered in our setup guide to desk accessories for a law office.
Retirement from practice
Retirement moves a lawyer to a desk at home with no title left to print, so a set without a nameplate is a fair choice. The 5-Piece Genuine Leather Desk Set ($450) is a compact set in black: a desk pad in the smaller size, a pen cup, a two-pen stand with two pens, a memo holder and a letter opener. If the family wants a name on the desk, a single name plate with the name alone, or with J.D., stays correct after the last day of practice.
Attorney nameplate wording: J.D., Esq. and titles that change
Your text is printed on the metal plate as typed; it is not engraved, and nothing is corrected.
- One credential per plate. J.D. is the degree and is true from graduation day; by convention, Esq. and Attorney at Law both follow admission to the bar. As a rule of thumb, use one of the three.
- The name as the lawyer practices under it. Copy it from the firm's website or the state bar's public directory, which usually show the exact form: with or without a middle initial, a hyphen or a suffix such as Jr.
- Rank and role lines. Associate (9), Partner (7), Shareholder (11) and Of Counsel (10) fit the title line. So do General Counsel (15), Assistant District Attorney (27) and Deputy Public Defender (22), for lawyers outside firms. Use the employer's own word: some firms say Shareholder or Member where others say Partner.
For long titles, department lines and the choice of font and gold or silver plate, read what to put on a desk nameplate.
Who is giving: family, the firm or colleagues
- Family. Attorney gifts from family usually mark graduation or the swearing-in, when you know the name and not the office. Ask which form of the name the new lawyer will practice under.
- The firm. A firm welcoming new associates can give every desk the same set, each with its own name and title; our corporate gifts page explains how an order for several desks works.
- Colleagues. For a pooled gift to a new or retiring partner, the lawyer's assistant usually knows what you need: the exact title, the width of the desk and what already stands on it. Associates giving to a partner they report to will find the group-gift etiquette in our guide to gifts for your boss.
Gifts for attorneys who work for a court, a government office or a company's legal department may fall under a gift policy. Unless you are family, check it before you order.
Colors for an office you have not seen
By general convention, law offices are furnished conservatively, and black sits with dark wood and with neutral firm furniture alike; our black desk sets include compact and executive sets on both pad sizes. If you know the desk is dark wood, brown and burgundy are the traditional alternatives, and both the Prestige set and the Vega 14 come in them.
Before you order a gift for a lawyer
- The date. Order early: a swearing-in ceremony or a partnership dinner will not move for a late parcel, and the times in our shipping policy are estimates, not guaranteed delivery dates.
- Corrections. Tell us quickly, through the contact page, if you spot a mistake once the order is placed. We can change the nameplate text until the order has shipped; after that it cannot be changed. Voluntary returns and exchanges are not offered; the refund policy has the details.
For more sets, browse the desk sets with a personalized nameplate. Our personalized office gifts page covers promotions, new offices and retirements in any profession.
