Panel to study unethical solicitation.

Former Bar President Howard Coker will chair a new Bar special committee charged with investigating unethical solicitation of potential clients by lawyers and law firms.

The Board of Governors at its October 24 meeting unanimously approved the recommendation of the Program Evaluation Committee to create the Special Committee to Study the Unethical and Illegal Solicitation of Legal Business.

Bar President Greg Coleman pushed for the committee following complaints the Bar has received in recent years.

"Over the past few years I've noticed a significant increase in the complaints by Florida Bar members and the public in being contacted unethically and illegally," he said after the meeting.

Such cases can be difficult for the Bar to prosecute, he said, because many times the initial contact is made through third parties and clients are reluctant to become involved in a Bar grievance.

"You need the client to verify the communication. A lot of clients don't want to get involved in that. They want their suit handled," Coleman said.

He told of instances where accident victims were contacted within 24 or 48 hours. Bar rules prohibit email or mailed solicitations within 30 days of an incident and direct, in-person solicitation is always prohibited unless there is a prior family or professional relationship.

"I don't know that it's limited to the personal injury field, but I think that area has just seen an escalation of inappropriate activity so we need a group to take a look at this and see if there are better ways to enforce our existing rules or we need to change our rules because of the times," Coleman said. "It's something that has been bothering me for a long time and I think the folks who are looking at this hopefully are going to come up with some creative ways to see that the public is protected, because they're not being protected now."

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