For practice regulations in NY State you'll want the expertise of practicing building designer and 5 time community college dropout Richard WC Balkans, who I'm sure will arrive at any moment to dispense his wisdom  

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HIRING AN "ARCHITECT OF RECORD" TO STAMP YOUR DRAWINGS. As a Registered Architect in NYS, I have contacted the board multiple times about this, even asked them about the actual language that people have sited to "justify" the claim that employing an "Architect of Record" IS allowed by non-licensed persons (such as interior designers), and the verdict is that this is absolutely NOT allowed. 

Here are some important quotes from the practice guidelines:

http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/a...

While an architect may retain an interior designer as a consultant, or have an interior designer on staff, and pass on those services to the client, an interior designer or firm may not pass on architectural or engineering services to the client. There is nothing to prevent an interior design firm from having an architect on staff to participate or assist in the provision of interior design services, however, even if the architect has ownership in the interior design firm, the firm itself is still not authorized to provide architectural services.

http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/a...

Regents Rules Section 29.3(a)(3) states that it is unprofessional conduct for a design professional to certify "by affixing the licensee's signature and seal to documents for which the professional services have not been performed by, or thoroughly reviewed by, the licensee; or failing to prepare and retain a written evaluation of the professional services represented by such documents in accordance with the" requirements specified in Part 29.3(a)(3) - Unprofessional Conduct.

PLEASE NOTE: the phrase "...or thoroughly reviewed by, by the licensee..." (especially the conjunction "or") DOES NOT mean that a non-licensed person can hire an architect of record to thoroughly review his/her drawings and affix her/her stamp. This has been confirmed by the NYS Board of Architecture. The reason why you see this happen a lot is because NYS has a lot of architects in comparison to other states and they simply don't have the resources to crack down on all of them. Moreover, they only investigate/crack down on this if they receive a complaint. 

LASTLY - You can only offer architectural services if you are registered as any of the following types of entities (LLC's and regular corporations are not allowed to legally offer architectural services in NYS, nor can employees of such entities earn AXP hours for licensure): 

• A sole proprietor licensed in New York State.
• A partnership, in which all partners are licensed, at least one as an architect. The other partners may be licensed as a professional engineer, landscape architect or land surveyor. There is no provision in New York for interior designers to have any ownership in business entities providing architectural, landscape architectural, professional engineering or land surveying services.
• A professional service corporation, (PSC) authorized under Article 15 or 15A of the New York State Business Corporation Law.June 17, 2009 corporations where each of the shareholders, officers and directors must be licensed in New York State. The four design professions cited above may form a PSC to render those professional services for which the individuals are authorized to provide.

This is why you see a lot of illegal practice. Don't believe me? Call the board and find out for yourself.

Employing a rubber stamper in NYS is like fucking without a condom. You'll never know when you'll ruin your life. 

nys has a process for reciprocal licensure for architects licensed in another jurisdiction, and also has a process for a limited permit for a project for architects licensed in another jurisdiction

Thank you all! 

Standard practice in NYC: Owner hires consultants independently. Consultants coordinate with Architect of Record directly contracted with the owner.

AOR has to be contracted by the owner and only idiots hire their own consultants here.

++ null. So often a client thinks they’re going to ‘save’ $ by direct hiring the consultant only to spent 3x time/$ than if they’d just paid the markup and let us do our job of coordinating those consultants.