Board approves stricter advertising rules: lawyer Web sites, radio, and television ads would face greater Bar oversight.

Virtually every radio and TV lawyer ad would have to be approved by The Florida Bar before it aired under recommended new advertising rules approved by the Board of Governors at its April 8 meeting.

In addition, all Web sites would fall under Bar advertising rules, and the board rejected a suggested rule mandating delays in direct mail solicitations in criminal cases.

The rule changes will now be submitted to the Supreme Court for review.

The board took those actions as it reviewed the final recommendations from the Advertising Task Force 2004. The board accepted most of the task force's suggestions, but changed several, including the review of electronic ads.

The task force had proposed an incentive policy whereby lawyers who waited to publish or air their ads until the Bar reviewed them would receive immunity from any future-discovered violations of the advertising rules. That would not apply if the lawyer deliberately lied in the ad and concealed it from the Bar. The Bar would have 15 days to approve the ad, or request further information from the lawyer.

The board approved that condition for printed media and direct mail ads, but voted to require prior approval for radio and TV ads. That standard would not apply to ads that conform with a "safe harbor" provision and provide only basic "tombstone" information and consequently do not have to be submitted for Bar review. Almost no radio or TV ads have fallen within the safe harbor provisions.

The action on ad review came in executive session as the board received legal advice on that issue.

Direct mail solicitations in criminal cases got more feedback than any other issue considered by the task force, according to its chair, Manny Morales. And, he noted, all but one or two of those who contacted the Bar opposed any restriction.

The panel considered proposals to extend the 30-day ban on direct mail solicitation in personal injury cases to criminal and traffic cases. But the task force unanimously rejected that proposal and wound up making only minor editorial changes to Rule 4-7.4 on contact with potential clients. Bar Ethics Counsel Elizabeth Tarbert said court rulings in other states struck down similar provisions. (The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Bar's 30-day waiting period on direct mail solicitation in personal injury cases.)

Board member Robert Rush was one of three board members who suggested an alternative in which lawyers wait five days for such a mailing and then be...