New York Law Firm advertising compliance
On January 4, 2007, the New York State Unified Court System adopted several amendments to the advertising rules in Canon 2 of the New York Code of Professional Responsibility. Many of these amendments relate to lawyer advertising on the Internet, and affect all New York's law firm web sites.
The most important point in these new advertising rules may well be the following, in DR 2-101(K):
A copy of the contents of any web site covered by this section shall be preserved upon the initial publication of the web site, any major web site redesign, or a meaningful and extensive content change, but in no event less frequently than once every 90 days.
What this means is that your New York law firm must, at the very least, retain a copy of your entire web site at least every 90 days! Talk about killing trees! But printing out your entire web site is not only a waste of paper, its a waste of time. Yet the act of saving each web page from your site to your hard drive would be equally time consuming.
Business Edge's Content management system, Lawadmin.com, allows firms to create a backup version of your ENTIRE WEB SITE with just ONE CLICK.
To talk to us about how your firm's web site can meet these new regulations please call us at 860-677-4449.
If you are interested in reading all the advertising rules, here is a link:
New York advertising rules PDF
DISCIPLINARY RULES
DR 2-101 [1200.6] Advertising.
A. A lawyer or law firm shall not use or disseminate or participate in the use or dissemination of any advertisement that:
1. contains statements or claims that are false, deceptive or misleading; or
2. violates a disciplinary rule.
B. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (a), an advertisement may include information as to:
1. legal and nonlegal education, degrees and other scholastic distinctions, dates of admission to any bar; areas of the law in which the lawyer or law firm practices, as authorized by this Part; public offices and teaching positions held; publications of law related matters authored by the lawyer; memberships in bar associations or other professional societies or organizations, including offices and committee assignments therein; foreign language fluency; and bona fide professional ratings;
2. names of clients regularly represented, provided that the client has given prior written consent;
3. bank references; credit arrangements accepted; prepaid or group legal services programs in which the lawyer or law firm participates; nonlegal services provided by the lawyer or law firm or by an entity owned and controlled by the lawyer or law firm; the existence of contractual relationships between the lawyer or law firm and a nonlegal professional or nonlegal professional service firm, to the extent permitted by DR 1-107 and the nature and extent of services available through those contractual relationships; and 4. legal fees for initial consultation; contingent fee rates in civil matters when accompanied by a statement disclosing the information required by subdivision (p) of this section; range of fees for legal and nonlegal services, provided that there be available to the public free of charge a written statement clearly describing the scope of each advertised service; hourly rates; and fixed fees for specified legal and nonlegal services.
C. An advertisement shall not:
1. include an endorsement of, or testimonial about, a lawyer or law firm from a client with respect to a matter still pending;
2. include a paid endorsement of, or testimonial about, a lawyer or law firm without disclosing that the person is being compensated therefor;
3. include the portrayal of a judge, the portrayal of a fictitious law firm, the use of a fictitious name to refer to lawyers not associated together in a law firm, or otherwise imply that lawyers are associated in a law firm if that is not the case;
4. use actors to portray the lawyer, members of the law firm, or clients, or utilize depictions of fictionalized events or scenes, without disclosure of same;
5. rely on techniques to obtain attention that demonstrate a clear and intentional lack of relevance to the selection of counsel, including the portrayal of lawyers exhibiting characteristics clearly unrelated to legal competence;
6. be made to resemble legal documents; or
7. utilize a nickname, moniker, motto or trade name that implies an ability to obtain results in a matter.
D. An advertisement that complies with subdivision (e) of this section may contain the following:
1. statements that are reasonably likely to create an expectation about results the lawyer can achieve;
2. statements that compare the lawyer's services with the services of other lawyers;
3. testimonials or endorsements of clients, where not prohibited by subdivision (c)(1) of this section, and of former clients; or
4. statements describing or characterizing the quality of the lawyer's or law firm's services.
E. It is permissible to provide the information set forth in subdivision (d) of this section provided:
1. its dissemination does not violate subdivision (a) of this section;
2. it can be factually supported by the lawyer or law firm as of the date on which the advertisement is published or disseminated; and
3. it is accompanied by the following disclaimer: "Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome."
F. Every advertisement other than those appearing in a radio or television advertisement or in a directory, newspaper, magazine or other periodical (and any web sites related thereto), or made in person pursuant to DR 2-103(A)(1), shall be labeled "Attorney Advertising" on the first page, or on the home page in the case of a web site. If the communication is in the form of a self-mailing brochure or postcard, the words "Attorney Advertising" shall appear therein. In the case of electronic mail, the subject line shall contain the notation: "ATTORNEY ADVERTISING."
G. A lawyer or law firm shall not utilize:
1. a pop-up or pop-under advertisement in connection with computer-accessed communications, other than on the lawyer or law firm's own web site or other internet presence; or
2. meta tags or other hidden computer codes that, if displayed, would violate a disciplinary rule.
H. All advertisements shall include the name, principal law office address and telephone number of the lawyer or law firm whose services are being offered.
I. Any words or statements required by this rule to appear in an advertisement must be clearly legible and capable of being read by the average person, if written, and intelligible if spoken aloud.
J. A lawyer or law firm advertising any fixed fee for specified legal services shall, at the time of fee publication, have available to the public a written statement clearly describing the scope of each advertised service, which statement shall be available to the client at the time of retainer for any such service. Such legal services shall include all those services which are recognized as reasonable and necessary under local custom in the area of practice in the community where the services are performed.
K. All advertisements shall be pre-approved by the lawyer or law firm and a copy shall be retained for a period of not less than three years following its initial dissemination. Any advertisement contained in a computer-accessed communication shall be retained for a period of not less than one year. A copy of the contents of any web site covered by this section shall be preserved upon the initial publication of the web site, any major web site redesign, or a meaningful and extensive content change, but in no event less frequently than once every 90 days.
L. If a lawyer or law firm advertises a range of fees or an hourly rate for services, the lawyer or law firm shall not charge more than the fee advertised for such services. If a lawyer or law firm advertises a fixed fee for specified legal services, or performs services described in a fee schedule, the lawyer or law firm shall not charge more than the fixed fee for such stated legal service as set forth in the advertisement or fee schedule, unless the client agrees in writing that the services performed or to be performed were not legal services referred to or implied in the advertisement or in the fee schedule and, further, that a different fee arrangement shall apply to the transaction.
M. Unless otherwise specified in the advertisement, if a lawyer publishes any fee information authorized under this disciplinary rule in a publication which is published more frequently than once per month, the lawyer shall be bound by any representation made therein for a period of not less than 30 days after such publication. If a lawyer publishes any fee information authorized under this rule in a publication which is published once per month or less frequently, the lawyer shall be bound by any representation made therein until the publication of the succeeding issue. If a lawyer publishes any fee information authorized under this rule in a publication which has no fixed date for publication of a succeeding issue, the lawyer shall be bound by any representation made therein for a reasonable period of time after publication, but in no event less than 90 days.
N. Unless otherwise specified, if a lawyer broadcasts any fee information authorized under this rule, the lawyer shall be bound by any representation made therein for a period of not less than 30 days after such broadcast.
O. A lawyer shall not compensate or give any thing of value to representatives of the press, radio, television or other communication medium in anticipation of or in return for professional publicity in a news item.
P. All advertisements that contain information about the fees charged by the lawyer or law firm, including those indicating that in the absence of a recovery no fee will be charged, shall comply with the provisions of Judiciary Law §488(3).
