Board clarifies lawyer ad rules enforcement.

Billboards, radio, and TV ads will be presumed misleading if they refer to past results of cases and give a monetary amount won by clients, following action by the Bar Board of Governors.

The board, at its December 13 meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, approved a recommendation from the Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics to adopt guidelines for Bar lawyers who review ads submitted by attorneys.

While the board was concerned mostly with billboard and electronic ads, all lawyer ads that mention past results must comply with the new guidelines.

The guidelines are intended to clarify recent advertising rule amendments that allow lawyers to refer to past results if they are objectively verifiable. They also refer to claims in criminal cases or success in other types of cases if relevant information is omitted.

Bar staff now will review ads that contain claims about past results that were approved since new ad rules went into effect May 1, and report on when noncomplying ads can be changed. They will contact lawyers and law firms if those ads are deemed not to comply.

The problem, according to BRCPE Chair Carl Schwait, is when these ads that are seen briefly by consumers, such as on billboards, or in short duration, like 15- or 30-second television or radio ads, the message can't adequately explain that an award mentioned in the ad is a gross amount and not the net amount received by the client after attorneys' fees and costs.

"We have found that those types of advertisements do not lend themselves to a full explanation as to what a client will get when they say such things as 'My client got a million dollars,'" Schwait said. "We find on the Board Review Committee that the advertisement then becomes deceptive, it becomes inherently misleading.

"By generally having our staff disapprove those advertisements, it's up to the petitioner to go forward and show why they should have that advertisement and why the numbers they are talking about are objectively verifiable."

The approved guidelines state that any amount claimed to be won for a client in an ad in an acceptable advertising medium must be the net amount, and if the client received a structured settlement, the amount must be given in current dollars. They also mandate that unless the advertising law firm can show differently, any ad that includes a dollar amount award must have this disclaimer: "Most cases result in a lower recovery. It should not be assumed that your case will have as...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT