Lawyer Advertising.

I read with dismay that the Bar's Advertising Task Force was considering whether to ban direct mail solicitations to criminal defendants within 30 days of their arrest date.

As an attorney who has used such direct mailings for over 10 years, I can attest first-hand that the public benefits of the current rule far outweigh any potential for harm sought to be addressed by a rule change.

During the thousands of free consultations conducted in response to my advertisement letter, I have enlightened defendants as to the seriousness of their charges; advised them of potential defenses and lack thereof; discussed strategies; quoted fees; estimated costs; given impressions on involved personalities; given comfort and innumerable bits of legal, practical, and human advice to all sorts of people accused of crimes, all presumed innocent, most of whom were in need of a voice they could trust. All were at no charge in response to my advertisement letter.

Many recipients of my letter received other solicitations and responded to those also. This indicates that people are making an informed selection of an attorney based on more than just advertisements.

Those who seek to change the rule might not give the public enough credit and assume that people are so easily swayed by clever lawyer advertisements that there can never be too much regulation. The result is that attorney...