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21-LSBA-RPCC-021- 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
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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 new 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.
Following the Court’s June 26, 2008 Order, the Committee immediately formed a
subcommittee to draft and publish a Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation. That
Handbook was published and disseminated to every member of the LSBA in conjunction with the
mailing of the October/November edition of the Louisiana Bar Journal. 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/Members/lawyeradvertising.aspx