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ADVERTISING AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS NOT DIRECTED TO
SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFIED RECIPIENTS
lawyer may advertise professional services or seek referrals through public media, such as a
telephone directory, legal directory, newspaper or other periodical, outdoor advertising, radio or
television, world wide web site, or other forms of communication not directed to specifically
identified recipients.
communication not directed to a specifically identified recipient, the lawyer shall file a copy of the
advertisement or communication with the Board of Professional Responsibility, provided, however,
that such filing is not required for any communication that only includes the name, address and
profession of the lawyer or has been exempted from the filing requirement by the Board of
Professional Responsibility.
displayed more than once or distributed to more than one person, the lawyer may
comply with this requirement by filing a single copy of the communication.
material respect, notice of the changes shall be filed with the Board within three days after
its publication, distribution, or dispatch.
lawyer's services except that a lawyer may:
Rule, Rule 7.3 or 7.5;
organization in return for which the lawyer will be given publicity as a lawyer;
registeredintermediary organizations, any
communication subject to this Rule or Rule 7.3(b) shall include the name and office address of at
least one lawyer or law firm assuming responsibility for the communication.
[1]This Rule governs general advertising through public media and other communications
that are not directed to specifically identified individuals. The Rule encompasses all possible media
through which such communications may be directed, including print, broadcasting, and computer-
driven technology. Communications that are directed to specifically identified recipients are
governed by Rule 7.3.
[2] To assist the public in obtaining legal services, lawyers should be allowed to make
known their services not only through reputation but also through organized information campaigns
in the form of advertising. Advertising involves an active quest for clients, contrary to the tradition
that a lawyer should not seek clientele. However, the public's need to know about legal services can
be fulfilled in part through advertising. This need is particularly acute in the case of persons of
moderate means who have not made extensive use of legal services. The interest in expanding
public information about legal services ought to prevail over considerations of tradition.
Nevertheless, advertising by lawyers entails the risk of practices that are misleading or overreaching.
[3]This Rule permits public dissemination of information concerning a lawyer's name or
firm name, address and telephone number; the kinds of services the lawyer will undertake; the basis
on which the lawyer's fees are determined, including prices for specific services and payment and
credit arrangements; a lawyer's foreign language ability; names of references and, with their consent,
names of clients regularly represented; and other information that might invite the attention of those
seeking legal assistance.
[4] Questions of effectiveness and taste in advertising are matters of speculation and
subjective judgment. Some jurisdictions have had extensive prohibitions against television
advertising, against advertising going beyond specified facts about a lawyer, or against
"undignified" advertising. Television is now one of the most powerful media for getting information
to the public, particularly persons of low and moderate income; prohibiting television advertising,
therefore, would impede the flow of information about legal services to many sectors of the public.
Limiting the information that may be advertised has a similar effect and assumes that the bar can
accurately forecast the kind of information that the public would regard as relevant.
[5]Neither this Rule nor Rule 7.3 prohibits communications authorized by law, such as
notice to members of a class in class action litigation.
[6]Paragraph (b) requires that a lawyer file a copy of any advertisement or other
communication governed by this Rule with the Board of Professional Responsibility within three
days after publication, distribution, or dispatch. A lawyer may comply with the filing requirement
of paragraph (b) by complying with guidelines that may be adopted by the Board of Professional
Responsibility concerning appropriate methods by which a lawyer may provide the Board with
notice of communications made by way of web sites, e-mail, or other electronic forms of
communication or of changes to such communications. This Rule does not require that
communications be subject to review prior to dissemination, although a lawyer is free to request
such a review from the Board. This Rule provides the Board an opportunity to monitor lawyer
communications to the public while not placing any sort of prior restraint on publication.
[7]A lawyer is allowed to pay for advertising permitted by this Rule and for the purchase
of a law practice in accordance with the provisions of Rule 1.17, but otherwise is not permitted to
pay another person for channeling professional work. This restriction does not prevent an
organization or person other than the lawyer from advertising or recommending the lawyer's
services. Thus, a legal aid agency or prepaid legal services plan may pay to advertise legal services
provided under its auspices. Likewise, a lawyer may participate in not-for-profit lawyer referral
programs and pay the usual fees charged by such programs. Paragraph (c) does not prohibit paying
this Rule.
See Rule 1.0(d)
“Material”See Rule 1.0(g)
“Reasonable”See Rule 1.0(i)
a. DR 2-101(B) only permits advertising “distributed in or covering the geographic
area or areas in which the lawyer resides or maintains offices.”No such limitation is
imposed by the Proposed Rule.
b. There is no counterpart in the Proposed Rule to DR 2-101(D), which establishes
a special procedure for amendment of DR 2-101(B).
c. There is no counterpart in the Proposed Rule to DR 2-101(E) which requires a
lawyer to approve the advertisement in advance of its publication.
d. The Proposed Rule does not include all the detail set forth in DR 2-101(F) about
the quality of the copy to be provided to the Board of Professional Responsibility.
f. DR 2-101(C)(1) does not require that an office address be included in every
communication.
g. Proposed Rule 7.2(c) is comparable but not identical to DR 2-103(B) which
provides “that [a] lawyer shall not compensate or give anything of value to a person or
organization to recommend or secure his employment by a client, or as a reward for having
made a recommendation resulting in his employment except that he may pay the usual and
reasonable fees or dues charged by any of the organizations listed in DR 2-103(D).”
The proposed is structurally similar to ABA Model Rule 7.2, but differs substantively in the
following respects:
a. In Paragraph (a), “world wide web site” is added to the list of approved media
and the catchall phrase “other forms of communication not directed to specifically
identified recipients” has been added.
b. In Paragraph (b) we have retained Tennessee’s current requirement that the
lawyer provide a copy of the communication to the Board of Professional Responsibility
within three days after publication or broadcast. The Model Rule does not require filing,
publication.
c. Paragraph (c) tracks Model Rule 7.2(c) except that in paragraph (c)(2) we replace
the Model rule reference to “not-for-profit lawyer referral service or legal service
organization” with a more general reference to “a registered intermediary organization.”
There is no counterpart in the Model Rule to proposed Paragraph (c)(3) which permits
sponsorships and contributions to charitable organizations in return for publicity as a
lawyer.
d. Paragraph (d) requires that an advertisement include the name and office address
of a lawyer or law firm responsible for its content. ABA Model Rule 7.2(d) only requires
the inclusion of the name of a lawyer. This issue was addressed in Tennessee Formal
Ethics Opinion 89-F-120.
The Committee amended Paragraph (B)(2) to replace the phrase, “a copy of the revised
communication shall be filed . . . ,”with the phrase, “notice of the changes shall be filed . . . ,” to
address issues raised in connection with websites. To address the same issues, and to allow the
Board of Professional Responsibility the latitude it now exercises to accept such notices
electronically, the second sentence of Comment [6] was added.
In keeping with emerging usage, the phrase “Internet website” was replaced with “world
wide web site.”
Due to changes made in Proposed Rule 7.6, conforming changes were made in Paragraph
(C)(2).
Made
PROPOSED RULE 7.3
SOLICITATION AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTED TO
SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFIED RECIPIENTS
professional employment by in-person, or
or real-time electroniccontact from a
family or prior professional relationship.
a writing, recording, telegram, facsimile, computer transmission or other
contact with the lawyer if:
lawyer; or
influence, intimidation, or fraud; or
(3) a significant motive for the solicitation is the lawyer’s pecuniary gain and the
communication concerns an action for personal injury, worker's compensation or
wrongful death or otherwise relates to an accident or disaster involving the person to
whom the communication is addressed or a member of that person's family, unless the
accident or disaster occurred more than 30 days prior to the mailing or transmission of the
communication or the lawyer has a family or prior professional relationship with the person
solicited.
or dispatch a communication soliciting professional employment from a specifically identified
recipient who has not initiated a contact with the lawyer and with whom the lawyer has no family or
prior professional relationship unless the communication complies with the following requirements:
shall include the words "THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT" as follows:
transmission, the required wording shall appear in conspicuous print size on the
outside envelope, if any, and at the beginning and end of the written material. If the
written communication is a self-mailing brochure or pamphlet, the required wording
shall appear on the address panel of the brochure or pamphlet.
the communication for at least five seconds at the beginning and five seconds at the
end of the communication and the required wording of the audio portion of the
video communication shall be presented as required in subsection (c) below.
beginning and end of the communication in a tone, volume, clarity and speed of
delivery at least equivalent to the clearest quality tone, volume, clarity and speed used
elsewhere in the communication.
rules has been approved by the Tennessee Supreme Court or its Board of Professional
Responsibility.
the contract shall be marked "SAMPLE" and the words "DO NOT SIGN" shall appear on
the client signature line.
formal legal documents.
and not by registered, certified, or other forms of restricted delivery, express delivery or
courier.
matter shall comply with the following additional requirements:
prompting the communication; and
outside of the envelope (or self-mailing brochure) in which the communication is
delivered; and
OR RETAINED A LAWYER IN THIS MATTER, PLEASE DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE.”
a specific recipient shall be filed with the Board of Professional Responsibility within three
days after the dispatch of the communication. At the same time, the lawyer dispatching the
communication shall also file the name of the person contacted and the person’s address,
telephone, or telecommunication address to which the communication was sent. If
communications identical in content are sent to two or more persons, the lawyer may
comply with this requirement by filing a single copy of the communication together with a
list of the names and addresses of the persons to whom the communication was sent. If the
lawyer periodically sends the identical communication to additional persons, lists of the
additional names and addresses shall be filed with the Board of Professional Responsibility
no less frequently than monthly.
or an announcement of an association or affiliation with another lawyer which complies with the
requirements of Rule 7.5, a lawyer who sends newsletters, brochures and other similar
communications to persons who have not requested the communication or with whom the lawyer
has no family or prior professional relationship shall comply with the requirements of paragraph (c)
above.