The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Advertising has denied a law firm permission to send texts to potential clients.
The committee reviewed proposals from the firm, which contended that texts are more akin to email than phone contacts, but the panel voted 6-1 against the idea.
At issue was Bar Rule 4-7.18(a), which prohibits direct communication or solicitation of potential clients in person or via telephone, telegraph, or fax.
Direct mail, including emails, are permitted if they follow certain requirements.
Jacob Stuart, representing the petitioning firm, argued in this case the phone number is more like an email address in that it is used to deliver a text message that would otherwise comply with Bar rules for direct mail. Smartphone users, he added, use their mobile devices more to check email, send texts, and post to social media than they do to make actual phone calls.
“The phone number has become an address,” Stuart said. “It is simply the address for a variety of accounts, one of which is the phone.”
He said the firm planned to obtain phone numbers of those arrested or issued traffic citations from clerks, run them through a database that identifies those that are mobile devices, and then use a computer to send them text messages.
Stuart said the practice would help bring legal services to low- and moderate-income people who rely primarily on their smartphones for information.
He also noted that traditional landline phones can’t even receive texts.
Committee member Carolyn Bell said she was concerned because many texts would go straight to phone owners who hadn’t configured their phones to divert texts to a holding folder.
Stuart said even though some owners hadn’t done so, they could set their phones to treat texts like emails.
Bar Ethics and Advertising Counsel Elizabeth Tarbert said a majority of Bar staff recommended against the text system.
The law firm has requested that the Bar Board of Governors review the committee’s decision.