Lawyer advertising.

The Supreme Court of Florida recently issued new advertising rules to take effect on May 1. These rules for lawyers and firms apply looser standards for television, print, and billboard advertising but stricter standards for websites. However, I believe that overall these new rules are a dream come true for international scammers in our midst.

New Rule 4-7.11 (b) states: "This subchapter applies to lawyers, whether or not admitted to practice in Florida or other jurisdictions, who advertise that the lawyer provides legal services in Florida or who target advertisement for legal employment at Florida residents." This definition of lawyer and a subsequent reference to the unlicensed practice of law are unfortunate, because the commentary of this rule allows foreigners with overseas law degrees to hold themselves out to be lawyers from another jurisdiction. The term lawyer in the rule should clearly indicate that a lawyer or a foreign attorney is an individual that has (1) a law degree from an ABA accredited law school and (2) has a valid license to practice law from a sister state of the union or territory of the United States.

In South Florida, the unlicensed practice of law is rampant in the area of immigration law and the international scammers have no interest in being a "foreign attorney" that makes an appearance pro hac vice as mentioned in the commentary to this rule and in Judicial Administration Rule 2.510.

Now under...