What constitutes solicitation under the new advertising rules in New York?

Nicole Black, author of the Sui Generis blog, has posted on a twist on the new rules regarding ‘solicitation’ in New York: a reader posted a comment on her blog, “need a criminal lawyer prferabbly a women nyc vicinity.” That comment sparked some discussion about whether a lawyer contacing the commenter would be subject to the new solicitation rule.

The rule, D.R. 1200 (b) states:

For purposes of this section “solicitation” means any advertisement initiated by or on behalf of a lawyer or law firm that is directed to, or targeted at, a specific recipient or group of recipients, or their family members or legal representatives, the primary purpose of which is the retention of the lawyer or law firm, and a significant motive for which is pecuniary gain. It does not include a proposal or other writing prepared and delivered in response to a specific request of a prospective client.

Does this comment constitute a ‘specific request’ such that a response to the commenter would be excluded from the solicitation rules? Nicole thinks so. I’ve posted my comments on Nicole’s blog. I admit that I tend to err on the side of caution (not to mention that I wouldn’t want to be the ‘test case’ for the new solicitation rules). But I think the rules aren’t clear enough to allow a lawyer who wants to respond to the commenter to ignore the solicitation requirements.

What do you think?