Registry boundary
Practice-Area Labels vs the NY OCA Registration File
The NY OCA attorney registration file authorizes practice via status codes. It does not publish practice-area specialties. This page separates registry fields from marketing labels used elsewhere.
- OCA
- no specialty field
- Status
- authorization
- Labels
- off-registry
Practice-area labels on directories often come from marketing or other databases - the NY OCA registration file PlainAttorney mirrors does not publish a canonical practice taxonomy.
Use practice labels as navigation hints, then verify what the public registration row actually carries (status, admission, school, discipline). This guide separates directory labels from OCA fields.
- OCA no practice taxonomy
- Directories marketing labels
According to the NY OCA registration schema PlainAttorney ingests, there is no practice-area column. Specialty labels on websites and directories are separate from the public roll.
What OCA publishes on each registrant
Mirrored fields include identity, registration status, admission date, law school when present, office-city strings, and links to formal discipline rows. See reading NY attorney registration fields and the lookup.
Common directory labels (not OCA fields)
Directories and firm sites commonly use labels such as:
- Criminal defense - marketing label for criminal-matter work
- Family law - marketing label for divorce, custody, and related matters
- Personal injury - marketing label for negligence claims
- Real estate - marketing label for property transactions and disputes
- Business / corporate - marketing label for entity and commercial work
- Estate planning - marketing label for wills, trusts, and probate
- Immigration - marketing label for immigration matters
PlainAttorney does not invent these labels from the OCA file. When a profile lacks a specialty string, that is because the registry did not provide one.
Litigation vs transactional as vocabulary
Legal directories often contrast litigators (dispute / court-facing work) with transactional attorneys (deal and document work). Those are descriptive categories used in the profession; they are not columns on the NY OCA registration export.
Frequently asked questions
Does OCA include practice areas?
No. The registration file PlainAttorney mirrors has no practice-area specialization field.
Does NY admission limit specialty?
Admission authorizes practice as the status code allows. The public roll does not issue separate specialty licenses in the fields PlainAttorney republishes.
Where do specialty labels come from?
Attorney websites, firm marketing, and third-party directories, outside the OCA registration dataset.
Litigator vs transactional?
Common directory vocabulary for dispute vs deal work. Not an OCA registration field.
Sources: New York Office of Court Administration registration schema via NY Open Data.
Last updated: August 2026
Understanding the data
Claims about what the registry contains are grounded in the OCA file PlainAttorney ingested. See methodology.