Legal Marketing & PR

NJ Supreme Court Allows Advertising in Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers

By Larry Bodine, Esq.

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that it is ethical for lawyers to advertise in Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers listings -- striking a blow for lawyer's freedom of speech.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/5xpufk to read the 22-page ruling.

The ruling vacates the notoritious Opinon 39 of the committee on Attorney Advertising, which ruled in ruled in July 2006 that advertising by lawyers with designation “Super Lawyers” or “Best Lawyers” is prohibited as a form of unethical comparative advertising that is also likely to create an unjustified expectation about the results the lawyer can achieve. See “Super Lawyers” and “Best Lawyers” Designations Banned in New Jersey.

The high court ruling reverses on of the most asinine ethics rulings ever issued by the troglodyte Committee on Attorney Advertising. As I stated on July 23, 2006, this committee should be disbanded, or given the duty of counting toothpicks in a box or rolling string into balls.

The Supreme Court backed the findings of a Special Master who reported on June 18, 2008 that “advertising by attorneys [is] a form of commercial speech protected by the First Amendment and may not be subjected to blanket suppression.”

Full post as published by Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).