Can a lawyer mail postcards to other lawyers across the state advertising that he writes briefs and will appear in any court?

Plain-English summary

A member of the State Bar forwarded to the Board of Governors a postal card that one lawyer had mailed to another. The card offered, "FOR LAWYERS," to write briefs in all state and federal courts, to do trial work and render opinions on any subject, and to "APPEAR with you or for you, in any court, or department, or industrial commission," touting twenty-five years' experience. The inquiry asked whether it was ethical for a lawyer to advertise in this way by sending postcards broadcast throughout the state to other lawyers.

The Board of Governors concluded the matter was fully covered by its earlier Opinions Nos. 3 and 4, which held that solicitation of business by circular, advertisement, or personal communication or interview not warranted by personal relations violates Rule 29 of the Rules of Professional Conduct and subjects the offending member to disciplinary proceedings. The Board added that there is no distinction between soliciting business from the lay public and soliciting it from other lawyers, citing the ABA Committee on Professional Ethics and Grievances' Opinion No. 36.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1932, decades before Oklahoma replaced its original Rules of Professional Conduct (patterned on the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics) with the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct (adopted 1988) and the later Ethics 2000 revisions. The rule number cited here, Rule 29, belongs to that superseded canon-era code and does not correspond to the current Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct. Restrictions on lawyer advertising and solicitation of the kind applied here were later substantially limited by Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), and subsequent First Amendment decisions; Oklahoma Ethics Opinion 310 (1998) cautions that advertising and solicitation opinions predating those changes may be outdated and should not be relied upon to the extent they are inconsistent with current law. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Could a lawyer mail postcards advertising brief-writing and court-appearance services to other lawyers in 1932?

A: The opinion concluded no. The Board held that the mailing was solicitation of business by circular or advertisement not warranted by personal relations, prohibited by Rule 29 and subject to disciplinary proceedings.

Q: Did it matter that the postcards went only to other lawyers, not the public?

A: No. The Board stated there is no distinction between solicitation of business from the lay public and from other lawyers, citing ABA Opinion No. 36.

Q: How does this opinion relate to the earlier Oklahoma opinions on advertising?

A: The Board treated the question as already answered by its Opinions Nos. 3 and 4 from the September 1931 Oklahoma State Bar Journal, which applied the same Rule 29 prohibition to advertising and circulars.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied Rule 29 of the then-current Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct, which provided that solicitation of business by circular, advertisement, or personal communication or interview not warranted by personal relations is unprofessional. Rules of this kind were patterned on the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics in force at the time. The blanket prohibition on advertising and solicitation that the opinion applied no longer reflects current law after the commercial-speech decisions discussed in the currency note above.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Rule 29 (1929 Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct): solicitation of business by circular, advertisement, or personal communication not warranted by personal relations is unprofessional.

Other opinions cited:

• Oklahoma Board of Governors Opinions Nos. 3 and 4 (Sept. 1931): solicitation by circular or advertisement violates Rule 29.
• ABA Committee on Professional Ethics and Grievances, Opinion No. 36: solicitation directed at other lawyers is treated the same as solicitation of the lay public.

See also

• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 3: Advertising Brief Services
• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 4: Soliciting Collection Business by Circular
• ABA Formal Op. 10-457: Lawyer Websites

Source

• Landing page: https://www.okbar.org/ethics/ethics-opinion-no-22/

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

Adopted February 26, 1932

The Board of Governors is in receipt of a communication from a member of The State Bar enclosing an original postal card, addressed to a member of the Bar by another member of the Bar. The postal card is as follows:

"FOR LAWYERS, I write:

BRIEFS, in all courts, State and Federal.

FOR TRIAL WORK; and OPINIONS, on any subject.

APPEAR with you or for you, in any court, or department, or industrial commission.

Twenty-five Years Experience.

………………..,

…….. Building …….. City."

The inquiry is:

"Is it ethical for a man who admits that he is a lawyer to advertise by sending post cards broadcast throughout the State advising other so-called lawyers that he writes briefs in all courts; that he is prepared for trial work and opinion on any subjects and that he will appear with you or for you in any court or department or industrial commission, and that he has had twenty-five years experience?"

In answer to the inquiry:

The matter involved in the inquiry is fully covered by Opinions Nos. 3 and 4 of the Board of Governors appearing in the September, 1931, issue of the Oklahoma State Bar Journal. In those opinions it was held that the solicitation of business by a member of The State Bar by circular or advertisement or by personal communication or interview not warranted by personal relations is a violation of Rule 29 of the Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the State Bar of Oklahoma and subjects the offending member of the State Bar to disciplinary proceedings.

The Board of Governors is of the opinion that there is no distinction between solicitation of business from the lay public and from other lawyers. See Opinion No. 36 of the Committee of the American Bar Association on Professional Ethics and Grievances.