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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

Lawyer Advertising Filing & Evaluation

Under rule 7.7 of the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, 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 advertisement/communication.

LSBA WEBSITE sets forth Rule Information
• Lawyer Advertising Rules, effective 10-01-2009 (**as amended through 06-02-2016)
• LSBA Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation (First Edition, October/November 2008)
• History of LSBA Proposal for the new Rules

• Filing
Please note that an advertisement/communication is not considered “filed” until it has been actually
received and “clocked-in” by LSBA Ethics Counsel, i.e., the date an item is placed within the mail
to be sent to the LSBA generally does not constitute the date of “filing.” Please note, also, that
“filings” are NOT accepted via email or fax.