Rolling The Dice

A Louisiana Hearing Committee finds a violation of Rule 7.7(c)  and proposes a public reprimand.

The rule requires pre or contemporaneous submission of advertising with the Louisiana State Bar Association.

(c) Regular Filing. Subject to the exemptions stated in Rule 7.8, any lawyer who advertises services through any public media or through unsolicited written communications sent in compliance with Rule 7.4 or 7.6(c) shall file a copy of each such advertisement or unsolicited written communication with the Committee for evaluation of compliance with these Rules. The copy shall be filed either prior to or concurrently with the lawyer’s first dissemination of the advertisement or unsolicited written communication and shall be accompanied by the information and fee specified in subdivision (d) of this Rule. If the lawyer has opted to submit an advertisement or unsolicited written communication in advance of dissemination, in compliance with subdivision (b) of this Rule, and the advertisement or unsolicited written communication is then found to be in compliance with the Rules, that voluntary advance submission shall be deemed to satisfy the regular filing requirement set forth above

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel

obtained documentation confirming that Super Lawyers has an application available for free in the Apple App store. the Super Lawyers web site confirms that a similar application is available on the Google Play Store.

The ad also violated the “plain background” requirement.

The ad was placed in Super Lawyers Magazine (Louisiana 2020) and also at Louisiana Life, a “statewide general interest publication.”

The attorney had been offered but declined a private admonition. (Mike Frisch)