Can a lawyer buy a paid professional-card listing in a college alumni magazine's business and professional directory?

Plain-English summary

A college alumni publication planned a new "Alumni Business and Professional Directory" and solicited paid listings in the nature of professional cards, with the person's name, profession, address, and telephone number, similar to a paid yellow-pages listing. The inquiry asked whether it was unethical for a lawyer to list in such a directory.

The Committee held it was. As a general rule, a lawyer may not publish any paid advertisement under Canon 24, even of a professional card such as a calling card or announcement card. It noted two usual exceptions to the bar on publishing advertisements: a professional card may be published in reputable law lists, because Canon 39 expressly so provides; and an unobtrusive telephone listing may be inserted in the yellow pages or classified section, because a client's interest in locating a lawyer already selected justifies that limited advertisement. The Committee said such justification seldom applies to other forms of advertisement and plainly did not apply here.

Because the proposed alumni-directory listing fell within no recognized exception, the Committee concluded it was unethical, citing Texas and ABA opinions in accord. The ruling was 9-0.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1961, under the former Texas Canons of Ethics, which the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct replaced effective January 1, 1990. It also predates Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), which loosened categorical advertising restrictions, though prohibitions on solicitation were not eliminated. Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance.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: Can a lawyer buy a listing in an alumni magazine's professional directory?

A: Under this opinion, no. The Committee held it unethical for a lawyer to publish any paid professional advertisement in an alumni magazine, even in a section labeled a business and professional directory.

Q: What advertising did the Canons allow at the time?

A: The Committee identified two usual exceptions: publishing a professional card in reputable law lists, which Canon 39 expressly permitted, and an unobtrusive telephone listing in the yellow pages or classified section.

Q: Why didn't the telephone-listing exception apply?

A: The Committee said the telephone-listing exception rests on a client's interest in locating a lawyer already selected, a justification that seldom applies to other advertisements and did not apply to the alumni directory.

Background and rules framework

The opinion interprets former Texas Canons 24 and 39, which governed advertising and the publication of professional cards, as applied to a paid listing in an alumni publication's directory. The modern analogs are ABA Model Rule 7.1, on communications concerning a lawyer's services, and Model Rule 7.2, on advertising.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• MR 7.1 (communications concerning a lawyer's services), as the modern analog
• MR 7.2 (advertising), as the modern analog
• Texas Canons 24 and 39 (former canons)

Other opinions cited:

• Texas Opinions 96, 169, 190, 192, 200, 209, and 210: advertising and professional cards
• ABA Opinions 182, 203, 221, 276, and 295: advertising and professional cards

See also

• TX Ethics Op. 237: Lawyer in a Chamber Directory
• TX Ethics Op. 241: Yellow-Pages Listing in Another Town
• TX Ethics Op. 277: Business-Guide and Directory Listings

Source

• Landing page: https://www.legalethicstexas.com/resources/opinions/opinion-236/
• Original PDF: https://tcle-web.s3.amazonaws.com/public/documents/Opinion_236.pdf

Original opinion text

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

QUESTION PRESENTED

A college alumni publication desires to develop a new section to be entitled "Alumni Business and Professional Directory." The publishers solicit paid listing in the nature of professional cards, containing the professional or business man's name, profession, address and telephone number, thus being similar to the usual paid listing of a lawyer in the yellow pages of a telephone directory.

Is it unethical for a lawyer to list in such a directory?

18 Baylor L. Rev. 315 (1966)

SOLICITATION - ADVERTISEMENTS - PUBLICATION OF A PROFESSIONAL CARD IN A COLLEGE ALUMNI MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER
It is unethical for a lawyer to publish any paid professional advertisement in an alumni magazine or newspaper, even though it is in a section labeled "Alumni Business and Professional Directory."

Canons 24, 39.

A lawyer, as a general rule, may not publish any paid advertisement. Texas Canon 24; and see Texas opinions 200 and 210. This is true even though the advertisement is of a professional card such as a calling card or an announcement card. See A.B.A. opinions 182, 203 and 276, and Texas opinions 169 and 96.

Some confusion apparently still exists, and it may be attributable in part to the fact that one may make some use, other than publication, of an announcement card (see Texas opinion 209), and in part to the existing exceptions to the general rule prohibiting publication of advertisements. The two more usual exceptions are, first, that a professional card may be published in reputable law lists (for the reason that Canon 39 expressly so provides), and, second, that the usual unobtrusive telephone listing may be inserted in the yellow pages or classified advertisement section of the telephone book. The latter exception has been recognized by committee opinion because the interests of a client in trying to locate a lawyer already selected justify such a limited advertisement. See A.B.A. opinion 295 (Aug. 1, 1959), and cf. Texas opinion 190. Such justification is seldom applicable to any other form of advertisement, and is obviously not applicable here.

The suggested advertisement, not falling within any recognized exception, is unethical. Accord, Texas opinion 192, and A.B.A. opinion 221. (9-0.)

Tex. Comm. On Professional Ethics, Op. 236 (1961)