Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas Topics: “Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a lawyer obtain information regarding a potential new client’s payment history from a database containing information supplied by other lawyers on the payment history of their clients, structure an engagement agreement to provide legal services to […]
Office of General Counsel Formal Opinion Topic: Lawyers’ Use of Deal-of-the-Day Marketing Programs From the Opinion: use of daily deal websites, such as Groupon, violates or potentially violates a number of rules of professional conduct. Rules: 1.1; 1.15(a); 1.3; 5.4 (a); 7.2 (c); 7.2 (f) Referenced Ethics Opinions: New York State Bar Opinion 897 North […]
Legal Ethics Committee Topic: Lawyers’ Use of Deal-of-the-Day Marketing Programs Analysis of the Committee: The Indiana State Bar Association’s Legal Ethics Committee has looked at the burgeoning group coupon forms of social media marketing. The Ethics Committee’s analysis is that such social media marketing is fraught with peril and is likely not permitted in its […]
Committee on Professional Ethics – Opinion 942 Topic: Referrals of clients; notice to clients as to legal fees Digest of the Committee: “Lawyer may not ethically enter into arrangement with a non-lawyer firm to accept referrals of clients whose legal fees, in an amount not disclosed to the client, would be taken from the fee […]
Committee on Professional Ethics Topic: Referrals by Non-Lawyer; Attorney Fees Paid by Third Party Digest of the Committee: “Lawyer may not ethically enter into arrangement with a non-lawyer to accept referrals for a fixed monthly fee for each case referred where case has been obtained by telephonic solicitation.” Rules: New York Rules of Professional Conduct […]
Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas Topic: “Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a law firm agree with a for-profit legal service contract company to provide legal services at discounted rates to persons who have contracted with the legal service contract company? May a law firm having such an agreement […]
Committee on Professional Ethics Topic: Non-lawyer marketers; bonus compensation to non-lawyer based on number of clients. Digest of the Committee: “A law firm may ethically pay a bonus to a nonlawyer employee engaged in marketing based on the number of clients obtained through advertising provided the amount paid is not calculated with respect to fees […]
South Carolina Lawyer 8 (January 2012) Author reviews the most important developments in professional ethics in 2011: (i) Advertising – Amendments to South Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct; (ii) Advertising – Groupon and similar services; (iii) Advertising—Misrepresentation on websites; (iv) Appointments – Just compensation for legal services; (v) Appointments – Right to counsel in civil […]
Groupon and similar deal-of-the-day websites: is their use ethical for a lawyer? It seems so, according to a recent opinion of the Ethics Advisory Committee, but are the risks worth its while? Groupon is an online company that offers daily deals at local businesses. You can get discounts on manicure service, drinks, local restaurants . […]
Committee on Professional Ethics Which are the rules for a discounted legal service offer? Topic: Marketing of legal services by use of a “deal of the day” or “group coupon” website Digest of the Committee: “Lawyer may market legal services on a ‘deal of the day’ or ‘group coupon’ website provided that the advertising is not misleading […]