New York's lawyer advertising rules labeled draconian and micromanaging
Dennis Kennedy says New York's proposed new advertising rules for lawyers are likely to lead to draconian and micro-managing rules.
At the same time Law.com has an article with judges and other architects of the rules patting themselves on the back for getting these rules through.
Fact is most folks would laugh at how foolish the legal profession looks when it passes regulations with the premise being to protect the consumer. God forbid a lawyer share a testimonial from a satisfied client or hand out a pamphlet with consumer legal information where the lawyer's name is in a font smaller than that of the title of the pamphlet. Both of course will be illegal conduct in New York.
For those of my many readers who are not lawyers, you can see why the legal profession has an awful profession. We go around passing rules that make us look like idiots and prevent us from helping you the consumer. Then to make matters worse, we'll spend years in hearings on grievances over alleged illegal conduct interpreting the new rules. Great stuff.
Now I know there are well intentioned portions of the proposed rules. But overall, worrying about stuff like this, as opposed to helping people who need legal assistance and patting those lawyers on the back who are helping people via the Internet, is a step in the wrong direction.
Hey Kevin. I agree totally that our profession is lacking in vision. My thoughts are here: http://paperstreet.com/blog/index.php/archives/263
I agree wholeheartedly that too many lawyers...and too often those with spare time enough to serve on rules committees...tend to have a very myopic view of our profession. The vast majority of non-lawyers don't care one iota about what most of the Bar Rules in most states go to great lenghts to regulate.
With respect though, I think all the blog traffic about these new rules is much ado about nothing. Let's take a quick & objective look at the new rules; What are the "biggies" you can't do?
1. You can't create a false expectation of future results;
2. You can't re-enact a scene or show a courthouse or a courtroom setting;
3. You can't use pop-up ads or e-mails that border on spam; and
4 You can't have client testimonials.
BIG DEAL! Seriously, if an attorney's practice is so dependent on creating false expectations & showing cheesy courtroom settings to impress prospective new clients s/he has bigger problems to worry about than the new bar rules.
I do have issues with the way the prohibitions are written against client testimonials, but understand the logic that left unchecked, they may tend to create expectations of future results. And the meta tag prohibitions are problematic.
Bottom line...There are a TON of ethical, professional & HIGHLY PROFITABLE ways to Make It Rain for a small law firm that are in compliance with new Bar Rules for New York.