The ABA House of Delegates has now approved a significant number of changes to the attorney advertising rules.
If I sound less than excited about that, it’s because the changes don’t amount to much. As I wrote at the beginning of the year, the amendments fail to address the litany of constitutional, antitrust, and plain bad-for-the-public problems inherent within the Rules.
- Do we still have to worry about the “reasonable costs of advertising?” Check.
- Are we still saying that attorneys can’t advertise using “lawyer referral services,” unless such services are approved by the state? Yep.
- Are attorneys still prohibited from paying for “recommendations?” Of course they are.
The rules as adopted DID tweak the definition of “recommendation,” removing an earlier change that would have defined “recommendation” even more broadly than in the current rules. But alas, it keeps the existing definition and adds a caveat that is surely going to cause even more trouble:
A communication contains a recommendation if it endorses or vouches for a lawyer’s credentials, abilities, competence, character, or other professional qualities. Directory listings and group advertisements that list lawyers by practice area, without more, do not constitute impermissible “recommendations.”
Having been through the meat grinder of multiple Bar ethics committees trying to evaluate the “ethics” of innovative new advertising and legal services delivery models, I can guarantee you this: a whole bunch of overbroad and unconstitutional interpretations of the ad rules are going to turn on the “without more” in the comment above.
I know that many of those who pushed these changes through agree that far more change is needed (including the wholesale elimination of Rule 7.2), but believed that the path forward was through this kind of incremental change. They may well be right that this is the best path to getting the Rules where they ultimately need to be. But forgive me if I lack any enthusiasm about these amendments.
Although if anyone wants suggestions about the NEXT set of changes, I’ve already prepared a helpful list.