New Rules for Lawyer Advertising in New York

The word came down today, finally. The changes to the rules for lawyer advertising in New York will become effective February 1, 2007.

It appears that the comments submitted by attorneys around the state were taken to heart, and there are significant differences between the rules that will go into effect next month and the proposed rules that were disseminated at the end of last year.

Notably, some significant changes were made with regard to the use of testimonials, the use of actors to portray lawyers or clients, and the the filing of advertisements, among others.

The full redlined changes can be found here:

http://www.nysba.org/Content/ContentGroups/Announcements/RedlinedAdvertisingAmendments010407.pdf

I'll post more on this topic, with specific references and further comments, tomorrow.

Comments

[hillary earle]

I work for a mediation company and our mediators are either attorneys or retired judges. As a provider of ADR services, we list other lawyer /client testimonials about the services of the mediator. Would we be regulated by these NY rules ? or is it limited to advertising to the public only

[Allison Shields]

Eric-

It remains to be seen whether blogs will be considered advertising, since the definition says that something will qualify as advertising if the PRIMARY PURPOSE is to get clients for the lawyer. I suppose that may depend upon the individual blog.

Blogs are certainly 'computer accessed communications' according to the definitions, but it is surprising that DR2-101 refers only to advertisements and not to computer accessed communications. To be safe, I think lawyers that blog should review the rules and make their blogs comply with the advertising rules.

I plan to post more on the rules later.

[Eric @ New York Personal Injury Law Blog]

The new rules certainly raise questions:

1. Are our blogs considered advertising?
2. How do the courts assert control over what the insurance industry can do?

I've raised those issues at my own site earlier today.