Can a lawyer advertise or mail circulars to other lawyers offering to research and write briefs for them for a fee?

Plain-English summary

A member of the State Bar who had experience briefing cases for trial and on appeal observed that many lawyers, lacking law-library facilities in their home towns, might want to pay him to brief legal questions in the state law library. He asked whether he could run an advertisement or mail a circular to lawyers across the state offering this service for compensation.

The Board of Governors concluded that the inquiry was answered by Rule 29 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which provided that solicitation of business by circular, advertisement, or personal communication not warranted by personal relations was unprofessional. Because the proposed advertising fell within that prohibition, the Board concluded that engaging in the proposed practice would subject the inquiring member to disciplinary proceedings.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1931, decades before Oklahoma replaced its original Rules of Professional Conduct (patterned on the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics) with the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct (adopted 1988) and the later Ethics 2000 revisions. The rule number cited here, Rule 29, belongs to that superseded canon-era code and does not correspond to the current Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct. Restrictions on lawyer advertising and solicitation of the kind applied here were later substantially limited by Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), and subsequent First Amendment decisions; Oklahoma Ethics Opinion 310 (1998) cautions that advertising and solicitation opinions predating those changes may be outdated and should not be relied upon to the extent they are inconsistent with current law. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Could a lawyer advertise legal-research or brief-writing services to other lawyers in 1931?

A: The opinion concluded no. The Board held that soliciting business by advertisement or circular not warranted by personal relations was unprofessional under Rule 29, and that the proposed advertising would subject the lawyer to disciplinary proceedings.

Q: Did it matter that the customers were other lawyers rather than the public?

A: The opinion drew no such distinction. It applied Rule 29's general prohibition on solicitation by advertisement or circular to the proposed mailing and advertisement without regard to the audience.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied Rule 29 of the then-current Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct, which condemned solicitation of business by circular, advertisement, or personal communication or interview not warranted by personal relations. Rules of this kind were patterned on the ABA Canons of Professional Ethics in force at the time. The blanket prohibition on advertising that the opinion applied no longer reflects current law after the commercial-speech decisions discussed in the currency note above.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Rule 29 (1929 Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct): solicitation of business by circular, advertisement, or personal communication not warranted by personal relations is unprofessional.

See also

• ABA Formal Op. 10-457: Lawyer Websites
• ABA Formal Op. 465: Daily-Deal Marketing
• Okla. Bar Ethics Op. 1: Corporate Practice of Law

Source

• Landing page: https://www.okbar.org/ethics/ethics-opinion-no-3/

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

Adopted August 29, 1931

An inquiry has been received from a member of the Oklahoma State Bar in which it is stated that he has had much experience in briefing cases both for the trial courts and upon appeal; that it has occurred to him there are many lawyers throughout the state who, through lack of facilities in their home towns, might desire to have questions of law briefed in the state law library, and to pay the inquirer a recompense therefor.

The direct inquiry is, whether or not it would be proper for him to run an ad in a publication or to mail a circular to lawyers in various sections of the state, offering his services in briefing law questions for a compensation.

It is the opinion of the Board of Governors that the inquiry is answered by Rule 29 of the Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by The State Bar of Oklahoma which provides that solicitation of business by circular or advertisement or by personal communication or interview not warranted by personal relations is unprofessional; and that, therefore, to engage in the proposed practice would subject the inquiring member to disciplinary proceedings.