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19-LSBA-RPCC-021 PUBLIC Opinion (2/6/19) Lawyer’s Use of Technology.
21-LSBA-RPCC-022- PUBLIC Opinion (8/25/21) Lawyer’s Use of Percentage-Based Fees in
Representing Succession Representatives
Questions, comments or suggestions regarding the opinions, the publication process or the Ethics
Advisory Service may be directed to Eric Barefield, Ethics Counsel, Louisiana State Bar
Association, 601 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130; direct dial: (504) 619-0122; fax:
(504) 598-6753.

Ethics Fridays
“Ethics Fridays” is a series of seven low cost CLE’s at the LSBA Bar Center and transmitted
online to give members the opportunity to attend an hour of ethics on a variety of topics and assist
members with understanding ethics issues and the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct. The
first program was March 22, 2019.

Lawyer Advertising

On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court of Louisiana signed an Order repealing and reenacting
the Rule 7 series of Article XVI of the Articles of Incorporation of the Louisiana State Bar
Association, i.e., the lawyer advertising and solicitation rules within the Louisiana Rules of
Professional Conduct. The Court’s Order effectively adopted—nearly verbatim—the written
recommendations made to the Court in June 2007 by the LSBA with the overwhelming approval of
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the LSBA House of Delegates. The Court’s June 26 Order indicated the new Rules would become
effective on December 1, 2008. However, the Court deferred that effective date, first to April 1,
2009 and, then again on February 18, 2009, to October 1, 2009, in light of constitutional challenges
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that were raised in the federal courts. With the signing of the Court’s June 26 Order, the LSBA
proceeded to educate and prepare our 20,000-plus members regarding these new Rules. The LSBA
began accepting and evaluating advance filings of lawyer advertising since July 1, 2008.
Within the text of Rule 7.7, the Court has specifically assigned and delegated to the LSBA
Rules of Professional Conduct Committee (or any subcommittee designated by that Committee) the
following tasks: 1) to evaluate all advertisements filed with the Committee for compliance with the
Rules governing lawyer advertising and solicitation and to provide advisory opinions concerning
compliance with those Rules to the respective filing lawyers; 2) to develop a handbook on lawyer
advertising for the guidance of and dissemination to the members of the LSBA; and 3) to
recommend, from time to time, such amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct as the
Committee may deem advisable.
The Committee also developed a set of Internal Operating Procedures (published/available
on LSBA.ORG) and, therein, delegated the day-to-day operation and administration of the lawyer
advertising filing and evaluation process to LSBA Ethics Counsel, with Ethics Counsel and staff
performing evaluation of all simple/routine/repetitive filings. In the event that Ethics Counsel
determines that a filing would be more appropriately processed with the
consultation/guidance/assistance of others, the LSBA Ethics Advisory Service/Advertising
Advisory Subcommittee and/or an Advertising Executive Review Group of the Rules of
Professional Conduct Committee are available to perform evaluations of those filings referred to
them by Ethics Counsel.
The LSBA also maintains an up-to-date Lawyer Advertising web page, containing all
pertinent information, interactive on-line filing forms, the full text of the new Rules and the
Handbook and pertinent contact information http://www.lsba.org/lawyeradvertising
As of January 2022 the LSBA maintains a LSBA Lawyer Advertising Filing Search tool which can
be used to view advertisements filed with the LSBA. The uploading of advertisements to the
database is ongoing.