The LMA Ethics and Legal Marketing Working Group provides members with information and advocacy regarding rules of ethics related to legal marketing. The group:
- Provides advocacy and facilitates collaboration for change in the legal profession.
- Fosters partnerships among those organization driving change and influencing ethics rules industry wide.
- Identifies and recommends positions that the LMA should take on behalf of members.
- Works to influence relevant ABA Model Rules.
- Helps LMA members to better understand and influence the rules in their applicable states.
- Serves as a resource for members and the media regarding current developments related to legal marketing and ethics guidelines.
- Represents LMA for media inquiries related to legal marketing and ethics issues.
Recent Developments
At the American Bar Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, members of the ABA House of Delegates voted in favor of Resolution 101, the amendments to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, as developed by the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.
The amendments to the Model Rules will help legal marketers work more effectively, specifically:
- Rule 7.2, broadens “advertising” to “communications” and through “any” media, allows nominal gifts, and updates “office address” to “contact information” to encompass website, email and phone.
- Rule 7.3, deletes the “Advertising Material” labeling requirement for all communications from a lawyer soliciting employment, finding this requirement no longer necessary to protect the public.
- Rule 7.3, now includes “person who routinely uses for business purposes the type of legal services offered by the lawyer” as exception to prohibition on solicitations; no longer prohibits real-time electronic solicitations because of the pervasiveness of texts and tweets as written communications.
The next step is to have states adopt these new Model Rules to bring clarity and consistency to attorney marketing and communications across the country.
If you have any questions about how the Model Rules will help consumers, support higher-quality legal services and increase access to justice, we invite you to contact any of the members of the LMA Advocacy Advisory Council to learn more.
Click here to see additional resources on Resolution 101.