ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Service Ethics 20/20 Toronto, Canada Ann S. Jacobs & Sheldon J. Warren
Rule 7.2: Advertising A lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer s services except that a lawyer may: (1) pay the reasonable costs of advertisements or communications permitted by this rule (2) pay the usual charges of a legal services plan or a not-for-profit or qualified lawyer referral service. A qualified lawyer referral service is a lawyer referral service that has been approved by an appropriate regulatory authority;
Rule 7.2: Advertising A lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer s services except that a lawyer may: (1) pay the reasonable costs of advertisements or communications permitted by this rule (2) pay the usual charges of a legal services plan or a not-for-profit or qualified lawyer referral service. A qualified lawyer referral service is a lawyer referral service that has been approved by an appropriate regulatory authority;
What does recommend mean?
Comment 5: Lawyers are not permitted to pay others for recommending the lawyer s services. A communication contains a recommendation if it endorses or vouches for a lawyer s credentials, abilities or qualities.
Comment 5: Moreover, a lawyer may pay others for generating client leads, such as Internetbased client leads, as long as the person does not recommend the lawyer...
Report: III (A) In particular, the Commission proposes to add new language to Comment [5] that defines the term recommending so that it is clear that lawyers can take advantage of new forms of lead generation, such as pay-per-click and payper-lead services available on the Internet, as long as the marketing method does not involve conduct that is inconsistent with the lawyer s professional obligations (e.g., misleading communications, impermissible fee sharing, in person solicitations, etc.)
Pay per Click vs. Pay per Lead
Yellow Pages
Consumer opens book & searches for Attorneys
Consumer Finds Alphabetical Attorney Listings
& Paid Attorney Ads
Internet
Consumer goes on internet & searches for Attorneys
Consumer finds nonad listing of attorneys (aka organic results)
Paid ads show up at the top
They are labeled Ads
More ads are found labeled on the side
These ads are called Pay per Click
They are called Pay per Click because you pay only when someone clicks on your ad
Paid Ads Regular Listings
Pay per Lead
Consumer searches for lawyer referral
Non-ad results
Paid Ad Results
Find Expert Lawyers Search for Legal Specialists
Legal Consultations by Area Lawyers
Third Party Aggregators
If you have a legal matter and you want to make contact with a prescreened local lawyer in your area, then present your case now!
Pre-screened by whom & for what?
Experienced Attorney Legal Help Find Experienced Attorneys in all US locations
What does an attorney need to show to join?
How long does it take to get started? Just as soon as we nail down the available counties and practice areas you would like to receive, set a price per ad response for them, calculate a pre-pay deposit toward ad response and invoice you, we can get started putting your information into our system.
No mention of verifying/checking the experience of the attorneys
What is this most similar to?
Why do we have the no recommendation rule in the first place?
Non-Attorneys paid to land clients
Florida Grand Jury Report: 2000 In addition to the ban on solicitation imposed by F.S. 817.234(8), doctors, lawyers, and chiropractors are prohibited by their respective ethical rules from contacting potential clients or patients in person or by telephone. As a result unethical practitioners will turn to runners to do the dirty work.
Florida Grand Jury Report: 2000 Over 20 years ago a Dade County Grand Jury criticized this practice of "ambulance chasing."
Prohibition against runners / case wranglers is codified in the no recommendation rule
AZ, WA, KY & NY: Prohibited
TX & OH: Permissible Advertising but no assertions of qualifications
SC: Impermissible referral service / not advertising
NJ: Even when trying to avoid impermissible lawyer referral service, may still be misleading
Recommendations
Recognize the important distinction between pay per click and pay per lead
Maintain the prohibition against paid referrals both in the rules, comments and report
Provide a clear analytical framework to assist attorneys and states in evaluating whether a given pay per lead service is permissible under the ethical rules
Sample Language: Lawyers may not participate in a pay-per-lead service that:
(1) recommends its subscribing lawyers; or
(2) otherwise make claims about the competence or character of its subscribing lawyers; or
(3) states or implies that it will analyze the prospect s legal problem in order to find a suitable lawyer; or
(4) fails to disclose that its subscribing lawyers have paid to be listed with the service.
ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Service Ethics 20/20 Toronto, Canada Ann S. Jacobs & Sheldon J. Warren