Can a notice of motion for a new trial be signed by an attorney not of record?

It was held in McMahon v. Thomas, 114 Cal. 588, 46 P. 732, that a notice of motion for new trial must be signed by the attorney of record, and that it may not be signed by another attorney not of record who has not been substituted as attorney for the moving party. Conceding that this is the general rule applicable where the notice is signed by an attorney not previously connected with the case, and not properly substituted, it should not be held controlling here in the strict sense contended for by the appellants. The situation here is quite different from that in the ordinary civil action and by long usage the attorney for the relator participated as one of the attorneys for the plaintiff, although subject to the control of the attorney general. The attorneys for the relator here, who signed the notice in question, had signed all papers, and had taken a leading part in the trial of the action with the permission and under the direction of the attorney general. Within the meaning of this rule, these attorneys were in fact attorneys 'of record'. Only by resort [128 Cal.App.2d 458] to the finest sort of hair-splitting can it be said that this notice was not signed by an attorney sufficiently appearing as one of the attorneys of record. This was a sufficient application by a party aggrieved, under the statutes, to call for a hearing on that motion. When a hearing was actually held, as requested by the attorney general, his office took a most active part therein.