Good point.

Yes I am in NYC and do know many architects with LLC's. 

I am trying to start an LLC to obtain professional liability insurance to stamp drawings. Thoughts?

LLCs are illegal in New York for professional firms. The architects you know who have done it are clueless. You'll get fined if you start one and get caught, and then you'll forever have that asterisk on your record indicating that there's been disciplinary action against you, which looks bad to potential clients, and you'll have to report it every time you apply for reciprocity or renew your NCARB record. Also any employees you hire will have their experience rejected for IDP/AXP because you're an illegal firm type.  Just don't do it.

PLLCs are allowed.

That's strange because I do know some legit, large, well-known offices that have LLC's. I will not name them now if it is illegal. Also if you google "nyc architecture LLC" you find a long list of results with LLC's. I suppose I will need to consult my attorney in this matter. Thank you

See the chart of permissible corporate entities: http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/arch/permissible-corporate-entities.pdf

LLC, PA, or LTD:  NO.

LLP, RLLP, PLLC, PC, DPC, or Sole Proprietor:  Yes.

Yes, get an attorney - one with experience specifically with architecture firms in New York.

No, do not go by what other firms you know (or have googled) have done.  They don't know any better, and just haven't been caught yet.

Large firms establish different corporate entities for different states they do work in. I think LLC can fly in Michigan. 'Incorporated' works for most number of states.

Thanks a lot for the information. I guess it's fine because my partner and I are both RA's. However, he works out of Viriginia so I don't know how it works there.

"Incorporated" is not specific as to the type of corporation. In several states that is not legal - i.e. a PLLC must specifically use "PLLC" in the title that it registers with the state and on all of its documents.

Clearly.

Take a few minutes and go the source.  Contact the NYC state board and ask them: "What business structure(s) for architectural practice are permitted in New York State?"   And then "Are there restrictions/rule on what the business can be named?"

Rick that's bad advice. An application to register that in NY would be rejected, because it doesn't comply with New York's naming requirements due to punctuation. That's one of the explicitly stated reasons on the literally 23-point list of technicalities on which NY will simply reject the application and in some cases require payment and application all over again. The time and expense of an attorney with NY experience is worth it when you factor in all the ways you can screw this up, most of which will add time and money to the process, and some of which can result in fines and a record of disciplinary action.

It's missing punctuation that's the problem, not the punctuation that you included. More to the point: the original question was about skipping a lawyer and using a do-it-yourself site to register an LLC. The do-it-yourself sites might possibly catch the punctuation thing, but they won't catch things like the architects forming the wrong type of corporation - leaving that to be caught later by the board, which happens all the time in NY. Or, if it doesn't get caught, then the firms end up with employees who can't get licensed because NY rejects architecture experience earned in LLCs. You can see this in various past threads about that issue on this site, written by distraught interns when they find out they need yet another 3 years of experience before they can get licensed in NY. It's easy to say that the applicant should know all the rules, but you can see from the OP's responses that she didn't know some of them - and from your responses that you don't either - and I really don't think that's unusual - NY's rules are not all in one place, and complicated. Incorporating an architecture firm in NY is just not a great do-it-yourself project - there are a lot of pitfalls.

NO. See, that's the wrong form. You're really not helping matters, and are potentially confusing people. New York has different incorporation forms for those incorporating under different Articles. What you've linked is the 1203 form, which is different from the 402 form, which is different from the 1503 form, and so forth. If she sends in that form she will get rejected and have to refile - plus the fees are all different, and in this case the $200 fee for the 1203 is higher than the fee for the form she actually needs. In addition to the correct incorporation form, she needs to get a certificate of authority from the Board of Education before she can get the corporation recorded (I know, that sounds wrong, but that's who regulates professional design corporations in NY...) It's a multi-step thing where you have to get the first form from the first department in order to get a certificate from the 2nd, to send back to the 1st.  See, it's not a straightforward thing by any means, and linking to forms you're just guessing at isn't useful to anybody who finds this thread in the future either.

Step one, call lawyer

I'm no expert, but I'll bet there is a lot more than a single form to fill out

What happened to the gentleman who joined us for a brief moment?