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Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance
September 26, 2024
Page 3

• In the fall of 2006, the RPC Committee conducted public hearings on lawyer advertising in Baton
Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans and Shreveport (transcripts of those hearings are available here:
Lawyer Advertising History (lsba.org));
• The RPC Committee in March 2007 voted to recommend adoption of a number of amendments
to the LSBA’s House of Delegates. If approved by the House (the LSBA’s policy-making body),
the LSBA would then recommend adoption of the amendments to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
These amendments included the prohibition of:
o Portrayal of a client by a non-client;
o Portrayal of a judge or jury;
o Reenactment of any events or scenes or pictures…that are not actual or authentic;
o Use of a nickname, moniker, motto, or trade name that states or implies an ability to
obtain results in a matter;
o Use of any spokesperson’s voice or image that is recognizable to the public in the
community in which the advertisement appears;
o Reference or testimonial to past successes or results obtained;
o Promise of results; and
o Comparing the lawyer’s services with other lawyers’ services, unless the results can be
factually substantiated.
• In June 2007, the LSBA House of Delegates voted to recommend the amendments to the
Louisiana Supreme Court;
• The Court adopted the amendments on June 26, 2008, with an effective date of December 1,
2008;
• The LSBA began accepting new filings of lawyer advertisements/UWCs and providing
confidential, non-binding evaluations as to compliance with the Rules, pursuant to Rule 7.7, on
July 1, 2008; and
• The LSBA published in the fall of 2008 its “Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation.”
This publication was mailed to every licensed lawyer in Louisiana as a supplement to the
October/November 2008 Louisiana Bar Journal and was simultaneously posted on the LSBA’s
website. (A second edition was published in November 2022 and may be found here:
LawyerAdHandbook.pdf (lsba.org))

Shortly thereafter, two challenges to the constitutionality of the new rules were filed in the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and were ultimately consolidated as Public Citizen,
Inc. v. Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, 632 F. 3d 212 (2011). The consolidated suit argued that
some of the proposed amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct unconstitutionally infringed on
the commercial free speech of lawyers.

In response to this lawsuit, the Louisiana Supreme Court postponed the effective date of the amendments
until April 1, 2009. Also in response, the LSBA commissioned a survey on the attitudes of consumers
and lawyers toward lawyers and lawyer advertising in Louisiana. The survey of Louisiana residents was
conducted by telephone and yielded 600 responses from randomly selected Louisianians from all regions
of the state. It was approximately 12 minutes and 30 seconds long and consisted of 32 questions. A 31-
question web survey sent by email to nearly 18,000 Bar Members resulted in almost 4,000 completed
responses. The LSBA Committee also held focus group discussions in New Orleans, Lafayette, and
Shreveport, which involved a total of 25 respondents.