The legal markets here are highly competitive, with countless lawyers and law firms, many of whom spend significant amounts of
money on attorney advertising.
The
Committee on Attorney Advertising says in Opinion 39 that ads trumpeting a lawyer's inclusion in the two rankings violate the rule of professional conduct against suggestions that one lawyer is better than another.
In rejecting the bulk of New York's content - based
restrictions on attorney advertising, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today held that a ban on the use of nicknames like «Heavy Hitters» or client testimonials about pending cases violates the First Amendment.
Lawyers only got into the ad business in the late 1970s, with the seminal Bates v. Arizona State Bar case of 1977, which removed the longstanding
prohibition on attorney advertising.
As late as 2010, the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics and the Committee
on Attorney Advertising issued a joint opinion that even a virtual office with a physical office address manned by a receptionist on a continuous basis could not be a bona fide office because a receptionist did not qualify as a «responsible person acting on the attorney's behalf» and should not be entrusted with confidential information.
Based on that allegation, the Committee
on Attorney Advertising filed a formal complaint against Zemel, charging him with violating the ethical prohibitions against direct client solicitation and against communicating with someone whose physical, emotional or mental state might impair the decision to hire a lawyer.
If you've followed my blog, you might have some idea what I think about the Florida state bar's
rules on attorney advertising (or their approach to ethics in general).
The Model Rules serve as outer limits of regulations and
restrictions on attorney advertising but leave specific restrictions to the regulation of state bar associations, whose opinions on the matter vastly differ.
Larry Bodine doesn't mince words on his Law Marketing Blog, commending the court for reversing «one of the most asinine ethics rulings ever issued by the troglodyte
Committee on Attorney Advertising.»
That is the question to be decided by New Jersey's Committee
on Attorney Advertising, according to the New Jersey Law Journal.
Attorney Advertisement If this information is inaccurate or misleading, you may report this to the Committee
on Attorney Advertising, Hughes Justice Complex, CN 037, Trenton, New Jersey 08625.
There are numerous legal practices here, many of whom spend a lot of money
on attorney advertising.