I want to run a newspaper notice asking the public for information about a notorious case, not to get clients. Are the lawyer advertising rules triggered?
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This page answers the general question as of 1993. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current rules of professional conduct in your state, with citations.
Plain-English summary
An attorney wished to place a notice in the newspaper to gather information from the general public regarding a notorious case. The attorney told the Panel the notice was not meant to be an advertisement and was not intended to solicit business or clients.
The opinion concludes that the notice is not, in fact, an advertisement because the attorney does not intend to solicit business from it. It adds the converse: if the intent were to solicit business, the attorney would have to comply with the advertising rules set forth in the Rhode Island Rules of Professional Conduct, Rules 7.1 through 7.5.
In practice
Under this opinion, the character of the notice turns on the attorney's purpose. As an information-gathering notice with no intent to solicit business, it is not advertising and the Rule 7.1-7.5 requirements are not triggered. Were the same notice used to solicit business, those advertising rules would apply.
Common questions
Q: Is a lawyer's newspaper notice seeking information about a case an advertisement?
A: The opinion says no, so long as the attorney does not intend to solicit business from it.
Q: When would such a notice become subject to the advertising rules?
A: The opinion states that if the intent were to solicit business, the attorney would have to comply with the advertising rules in Rules 7.1 through 7.5.
Background and rules framework
The opinion frames the question against the Rhode Island Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyer advertising and solicitation, Rules 7.1 through 7.5 (analogs of the corresponding Model Rules), which apply to communications made to solicit business. The Panel's analysis turns on whether the communication is intended to solicit business rather than on its placement in a newspaper.
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- MR 7.1-7.5 / RI RPC 7.1-7.5 (advertising and solicitation rules; apply where the intent is to solicit business)
See also
- RI EAP Opinion 92-93: hotel-lobby advertising display with a direct phone is permitted under 7.2
- RI EAP Opinion 93-30: unsolicited brochure mailing is solicitation under 7.3
Source
- Landing page: https://www.courts.ri.gov/attorney-resources/Pages/Ethics-Advisory-Panel-default.aspx
- Original PDF: https://www.courts.ri.gov/Opinions/EAP%2093-38.pdf
Original opinion text
Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.
Final
ETHICS ADVISORY PANEL
Opinion #93-38, Request #372
Issued June 2, 1993
An attorney would like to place a notice in the newspaper for the purpose of gathering information from the general public regarding a notorious case. The attorney informs the Panel that the notice is not meant to be an advertisement and not intended to solicit business or clients.
The Panel believes that the notice is in fact not an advertisement because the attorney does not intend to solicit business therefrom. If the intent was to solicit business, then the attorney would have to comply with the advertising rules set forth in the Rhode Island Rules of Professional Conduct. (Rules 7.1 - 7.5)
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