'Proposal would let lawyers use the "S" word' ran a rather risqué headline in The Business Review in Albany, New York earlier this month. However, the word in question was not what you might have initially imagined. Instead it referred to a proposal to allow the 72,000 members of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) to call themselves 'specialist' in a particular field. Currently, use of the word is banned, with lawyers having instead to suggest that they 'focus' on a specific area of law, or that most of their cases are in certain areas. A committee has been set up by the NYSBA to study the issue and make recommendations, but it is not expected to report back for at least 12 months. As hard as it is to believe that this is the stuff of raging controversy, there is no guarantee that a proposal to allow use of the 'S' word will get through. In the past, a majority of New York lawyers have expressed their opposition to a change, which would also have to get past the heads of the state's four appellate courts and its chief judge