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Marketing Ethics

More Bar Silliness: Heavy Hitter is Misleading

March 3, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

A Nevada attorney, Glen Lerner, is challenging an ethics decision that prohibits him from calling himself “The Heavy Hitter,” according to this article, Lawyer to Sue Over Heavy Hitter Name. What’s even sillier than the title “Heavy Hitter” is the bar’s reason for banning it:  the bar believes that Lerner’s use of the term is [...]

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Why Are Attorneys Who Don’t Advertise Setting Rules for Those Who Do?

February 2, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, New York State Bar Urges Attorney Ad Guidelines (John Caher, NYLJ, 2/2/06) reports on the New York State Bar Association’s House of Delegates’ report calling on the Administrative Board of the Courts to create statewide, uniform screening protocols for advertising.  Curiously, the campaign to re-visit regulation of attorney ads is lead by biglaw [...]

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Ohio Bar Won’t Allow Lawyers to Say They Offer Cut Rate Service

January 25, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Via this post from Allison Shields as LegalEase is a link to this ABA e-report article (1/20/06) on the Ohio Bar’s disiplinary board’s recent ruling that ocupons for free or discounted legal services violate the Ohio Code.  The board found that coupons characterize a lawyer’s legal services as “discount” and thus, run afoul of commentary [...]

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Ethics in Chat Rooms

January 22, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Jon Stein posts a link to an article concerning the ethics of trolling for clients in online chat rooms under California law.  As you might expect, there are no clear cut answers; basically, you ability to ethically solicit clients in a chatroom depends upon the type of chatroom involved and whether participants have an expectation [...]

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A Culture of Unethical Conduct

January 22, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, Did Barnes Firm Lawyer Tell the Whole Truth?, Michael Beebe, 1/22/06 reports on somewhat deceptive advertising by Thomas Goldstein, a lawyer with Cellino and Barnes, who advertised that he was uniquely qualified to handle Vioxx cases in light of his status as a former physician.  Trouble was, the ads didn’t explain why Goldstein [...]

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Is A Civil Suit Preferable to Bar Regulation?

January 11, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

This article from AP,  Lawyers Can Be Sued for False Advertising (1/11/06) reports on a recent ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, holding that the state’s consumer protection act applies to lawyers.  Thus, plaintiffs can bring civil actions against attorneys for false or deceptive advertising. Frankly, I don’t have a problem with this ruling.  In [...]

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Why Is A Law Firm of One Ever Misleading?

December 6, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Let me proclaim here and now, for the record, that I’m the founding partner in a law firm, The Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant.  Yes, it’s a law firm of one and I’m the only partner, but my firm is just as legitimate and real as any of these.  So why is it then, that [...]

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An Ethics Decision for the Dogs

November 18, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

David Giacalone of f/k/ahas this post about the recent Florida Supreme Court decision in the 1-800 PIT BULL case (we noted the matter earlier here). The court ruled that a Florida law firm’s use of the phone number 1-800-PIT-BULL and a logo depicting a pit bull in a spiked collar violates Florida ethics rules – [...]

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How Is this Pro Bono – Sounds Like Marketing To Me!

August 7, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

This Press Release (PR Newswire 8/4/05) proudly proclaims that “for the first time in the history of bioethics, a major global law firm, (that would be Milbank, Tweed) makes its legal resources available, pro bono publico, for the analysis of biotechnology and its impact on women.”  The release goes on to describe that Milbank will [...]

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Client Endorsements Banned from NJ Lawyer Websites

May 29, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

And yet another stupid bar rule, this time out of New Jersey, where the Advertising Panel Lays Down Rules for Law Firm Ads on Wed:  Catchy URLs OK, but not client endorsements (New Jersey Law Journal, 5/31/05).  The article reports: In two opinions published May 23, the committee says law firms are free to adopt [...]

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