The lawyers were found to have violated the Arizona rule preventing attorneys from advertising in newspapers and a complaint was filed against them.
[12] From the mid-1980s on, many U.S. law firms began creating ads and increasing their marketing presence, using newsletters, billboards, newspapers, and so on.
Generally, Australian lawyers must ensure their advertising isn't false, misleading or deceptive, offensive or prohibited by law.
Because of the opinion that the law was above advertisement, the use of a logo anywhere was forbidden, and something as innocuous as a telephone book listing was subject to scrutiny.
It was forbidden to give any sort of detailed information on your firm's practice areas or specializations anywhere, even in yellow page listings.
In the 1990/1991 annual issue of the yellow pages for Nürnberg-Fürth, published by Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, the listing Dr Kreuzer & Coll, Nürnberg, Germany, broke with the status quo.
In India, an advocate shall not solicit work or advertise, except through a medium maintained by the Bar Council of India, either directly or indirectly, whether by circulars, advertisements, touts, personal communications, interviews not warranted by personal relations, furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments or producing his/her photographs to be published in connection with cases in which they have been engaged or concerned.
[16] Under the amended rule, advocates can mention in their chosen websites, their names, telephone numbers, e-mail ID, professional qualification and areas of specialization.
The Model Code was an effort by the ABA to create practical rules that went "beyond the pretty details of form and manners" and addressed "the chained relationship of the lawyer to his clients, to his professional brethren and to the public.
[30] The Supreme Court rejected the argument by the Arizona Bar that attorney advertising was "inherently misleading" and "tarnish the dignified public image of the profession."
Shock advertising, for example, would be considered unethical; directly soliciting clients (known as barratry, or "ambulance chasing") is illegal.
[40] The newly revised rules now allow advertising about a lawyer's publications and "bona fide professional ratings".
[36] The endorsement, portrayals, "Irrelevant characteristics", and nicknames provisions were stricken; however, the domain name limitations, 30-day solicitation, and communications rules were upheld.
[36] State Bar President Kathryn Madigan promised to work with the court system to develop new rules that will survive constitutional strict scrutiny.
In a joint survey between the LMA and Bloomberg Law in 2018, 62 percent of law firm respondents said their firms were increasing emphasis on business development and marketing initiatives and 41 percent reported hiring or increasing marketing staff as one of the top new investments over the past two years.
[49] In the UK, legal marketing commenced in 1986, when the Law Society of England and Wales first permitted lawyers to advertise.
For instance, in 2006, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) intervened in the State Bar of Texas Professional Ethics Committee's decision on whether it was ethical for attorneys to use online lawyer referral services, finding that "online legal matching services are a valuable option for Texans: they are likely to reduce the consumers' cost for finding legal representation and have the potential to increase competition among attorneys.
[53] Countries like Slovenia and North Macedonia[54] still impose strict rules on professional standards and discourage or prohibit legal marketing.
[57] Search engine optimization, online reviews, lawyer directory profiles, and other digital marketing strategies started to grow during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
There is a recognition that the majority of people looking for a lawyer now use the Internet to begin their search – a trend that began years before the COVID-19 pandemic[59] but accelerated because of it.
Austin News Place listed four ways for lawyers to keep their firms running even while they're on vacation using digital legal marketing techniques: live chat, a professionally managed website, thoughtfully constructed social media and a robust body of ratings and reviews.