Restrictions on New York Attorney Advertising Rejected by Circuit

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected most of the content-based attorney advertising rules in New York, because they violate the First Amendment.  This information was provided by Great Legal Marketing member, Jim Reed of the Ziff Law Firm.  Thank you Jim!

According to the Circuit Court, not allowing New York attorneys to use client testimonials for pending cases and nicknames that implied their ability to get results, was unconstitutional. 

The lawyer advertising rules, which went into effect on February 1, 2007, also prohibited
“portrayals of judges or fictitious law firms.”  The Circuit Court did rule that portraying a fictitious law firm or using fictitious names of lawyers not associated with the law firm was misleading and not protected under the First Amendment.

The New York attorney advertising rules also established a thirty-day moratorium following a specific incident, before lawyers could solicit personal injury clients through targeted television and other media ads.  The Circuit Court did uphold this thirty-day waiting period.

You can read more about the case here: http://www.greatlegalmarketing.com/library/Cahill_appellate_decision.pdf.