Page 341 - 2024 Orientation Manual

Lawyer Advertising

On June 26,2008, the Supreme Court ofLouisiana 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 wriuen
recommendations made to the Court in June 2007 by the LSBA with the overwhelming approval of
the LSBA House ofDelegates. The Court's June 26th Order indicated the new Rules would become
effective on December 1, 2008. However, the Court deferred that elfective date, first to April 1,
2009 and, then again on February 18, 2009, to October l, 2009, in light of constitutional challenges
that were raised in the federal courts. With the signing ofthe Court's June 26th 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 I , 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 goveming lawyer advertising and solicitation and to provide advisory opinions conceming
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 Intemal 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 hlings. 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 ofthose filings referred to
them by Ethics Counsel.
The LSBA also maintains an up-to-date Lawyer Advertising web page, containing all
pertinent information, interactive onJine filing forms, the full text of the new Rules and the
Handbook and pertinent contact information httn://www.lsba ore/lawy
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.

LSBA WRBSITE
. Lauyer Advertising Rules, effective l0-01-2009 (**as amended through 01-22-2022)
. LSBA Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation (Second Edition, November 2022)
. Intemal Operating Procedures (Revised October 2022)
. History of LSBA Proposal for the new Rules

Lawver Advertisins & Solicitation Rules - as Effective l0l0ll2009

Under Rule 7.7, lawyers are obligated to file ALL non-exempt advertisements and unsolicited
written communications with the LSBA Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, through LSBA
Ethics Counsel, prior to or concurrent with first use/dissemination of the
advenisement/communication.