Lawyer(s) Advertising
When I teach Professional Responsibility, I spend more time than most do on the lawyer advertising and marketing rules. There are several reasons why I do this. First, I find that students enjoy the subject matter. I routinely have my students break up into law firms and create their firm personas. Then when we discuss lawyer advertising and marketing, I have them create advertisements or marketing strategies that test the boundaries of the rules (and often, cross them entirely). Second, a number of my graduates go on to be solo practitioners or work in small firms—where they might be in charge of their own advertising efforts. Third, Rule 7.1 provides a great vehicle for teasing out what it means for a communication to be “false or misleading.” We watch lawyer commercials (some favorites: Adam Reposa, Jamie Casino) and print advertising. We also discuss the difference between advertising that violates the rules vs. that which is merely in poor taste.
One issue that we’ve talked about over the years is whether a solo practitioner can hold themselves out as themselves “& associates” or talk about the “attorneys” in their firm. We generally reach a consensus that this practice would violate the language of Rule 7.1, but most students believe that a disciplinary agency would unlikely sanction an attorney on that basis. I tended to believe that as well, until now.
Recently I came across two disciplinary sanctions from Massachusetts where the attorneys received public reprimands for violating Rule 7.1 by calling themselves “& associates” and/or referring to the “attorneys” in their firm. To be fair, both lawyers committed additional conduct that contributed to their sanctions. But it does show that at least one disciplinary authority takes seriously these attempts to make a practice look larger or more robust than it is.
From my empirical research, Rule 7.1 is not often cited as a basis for discipline. But one wonders whether it might increase as lawyers push the boundaries on ways to drum up business.
Link to 2022 Sanction: https://bbopublic.massbbo.org/web/f/PR2022-3.pdf
Link to 2017 Sanction: https://bbopublic.massbbo.org/web/f/pr17-4.pdf