by The Florida Bar News
Quicker, more consistent, and more effective enforcement of the Bar’s advertising rules is the goal of a new statewide grievance committee that will focus on lawyers’ advertisements.
The committee was recommended by the Disciplinary Procedure Committee, approved by the Board of Governors and Bar president Terry Russell designated President-elect Tod Aronovitz as the board member assigned to review the actions of the new panel.
DPC Chair Bob Brush said the committee unanimously recommended creating the statewide ad panel and that Bar rules allow the board to create the panel and appoint its membership.
Russell said he had conferred with Aronovitz over the committee and then decided to appoint him as the committee’s designated reviewer.
The action comes after board members, who typically review several advertising appeals at each meeting, have recently expressed frustrations over the appeal process. They have noted that appeals typically take several months during which ads can be published or aired. If a violation is found and upheld on appeal, the advertising lawyer or law firm has already had extensive exposure from the ad.
Bar rules require ads to be filed for review either prior to or at the time they are first published or broadcast. Members concerned about whether their ads comply can ask for a preliminary opinion based on a mockup or transcript of the ad. If the ad does not comply, they can revise the ad prior to final production.
Attorneys may run an ad while it is being reviewed or appealed, but do so at their own risk. Attorneys who run ads that violate Bar rules may be subject to discipline, even if the review or appeal is still pending. Previously, the board’s general policy was not to prosecute noncomplying ads while a review or appeal was pending, but that was changed last May.
Aronovitz said the board action addresses “the hue and cry from attorneys across the state dealing with the current advertising process.”
“What they [DPC] reviewed is the way an advertisement is presented for review and then the method followed by The Florida Bar when a grievance or complaint is filed about an ad,” he continued. “The process needs to be streamlined so attorneys who advertise and violate the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar can be investigated much faster.”
Aronovitz called the new committee “my president-elect project for the year.”
The grievance committee “will investigate ads on an expedited basis and consistently apply the rules to ads under investigation,” he added. “The object of the committee is to expedite the entire process of investigating alleged violations of the attorney advertising rules.”
Details, including the size of the statewide committee and the number of members, are still being discussed.
— Reprinted with permission of The Florida Bar News.