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Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance
             September 26, 2024
             Page 2

             One of the ways we have done this is by creating the extensive online database, as required by the May
             2021 amendments to rules governing attorney advertising and set forth in the Rules of Professional
             Conduct implemented by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The genesis for the Supreme Court’s action was
             SCR 57, adopted in May 2020 (attached here). This resolution requested that the Louisiana Supreme
             Court and the Louisiana State Bar Association implement a “lawyer advertisement review recognition
             program” and described the database which we ultimately created.  Creation of this  database  was  a
             massive undertaking which included the efforts of several staff members, an outside programmer, and a
             temporary employee who was charged with uploading advertisements to the database. Through these
             significant efforts, we were able to launch the online searchable public database on January 1, 2022, a
             little more than six months after the Court’s amendments to the Rules. Since then, we have continued to
             upload new advertisements to that online public database as they are filed with us.

             Specific provisions of these amendments include:
                •  Lawyers  are  obligated  to  file  ALL  non-exempt  advertisements and  unsolicited  written
                    communications  (UWCs)  with  the  LSBA  Rules  of  Professional Conduct  Committee,
                    through LSBA  Ethics  Counsel, prior  to  or  concurrent  with  first  use/dissemination  of  the
                    advertisement/communication;
                •  Each  non-exempt  advertisement/UWC  is  assigned  a  unique  filing  number  at  the  time  the
                    advertisement/UWC  is  filed,  and  this  number  must  be  included  on  all  advertisements  and
                    unsolicited written communications which are not identified by the Rules as exempt from the
                    filing requirements;
                •  The lawyer whose name is included on the advertisement or UWC as responsible for its content
                    thereby certifies that it has been filed and assigned a filing number in accordance with the Rules;
                •  Upon  receipt  by  the  LSBA,  filed  advertisements/UWCs  are  posted  to  the  online  searchable
                    public database on the LSBA website: LSBA Lawyer Advertising Filing Search; and
                •  Rule 7.2(c)(1)(D) was amended to require a disclaimer such as “Results May Vary” or “Past
                    Results Are Not a Guarantee of Future Successes” whenever an advertisement or UWC contains
                    a reference or testimonial to past successes or results obtained.

             Complete information on the requirements and the filing process may be found here: Lawyer Advertising
             (lsba.org).

             As you may know, the Legislature has been interested in lawyer advertising for a number of years, and
             SCR  113,  from  the  2006    Regular  Session  (attached),  requested  that  the  Louisiana  Supreme  Court
             “establish a committee to study attorney advertising and the need and feasibility of creating a standing
             committee to evaluate such advertising, provide written advisory opinions thereon, develop a handbook
             on advertising, and recommend amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct.” The resolution
             further advised that the committee should report its findings to the Court by March 1, 2007.

             The Court and the LSBA took the following steps in response to this resolution:
                •  The Court established an Ad Hoc Committee to Study Lawyer Advertising;
                •  The LSBA referred the issue of possible amendments regarding lawyer advertising to its Rules
                    of Professional Conduct (RPC) Committee, which considered this matter on an expedited basis;
                •  The RPC Committee met in September and October 2006 and approved proposed amendments;
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