When Leigh Scales walks into her Professional Responsibility classes this week, she’ll have new material she’s sure will inspire a debate among her students.
The Florida Coastal School of Law professor uses attorney advertising as part of her curriculum. It’s a course that prepares lawyers of tomorrow for the ethics portion of The Florida Bar exam.
What she found late last week in The Florida Times-Union is now part of her collection. And it’s part of a Florida Bar investigation.
The first ad on Thursday, just inside the paper’s Metro section, began “El Faro Family Members” with a picture of the sunken ship just underneath. Below that was a message that the accident attorneys at Johns & Von Roenn “are accepting cases on behalf of the El Faro crew.”
The TOTE Maritime cargo ship headed for Puerto Rico sank this month after being caught in the ferocity of Hurricane Joaquin. The ship had 33 crew members, many with local ties. The search for them was suspended Thursday.
On Friday, another ad from the firm ran in the newspaper — this time with softer language. It began with condolences for the families and friends of the ship’s crew. This ad had the message of “We are here to serve the families of this tragedy.”
It’s an interesting case for Scales, who called the Florida Bar’s ethics hotline to see if the ad violated any policy.
Florida Bar rules state that attorneys can’t directly contact victims or their families within 30 days of an accident. The newspaper advertisements were general and targeted a group of individuals, but it wasn’t a direct solicitation, she said.
Florida Bar rules also state written communication can’t be sent “directly or indirectly” to prospective clients within that time.
On its face, it doesn’t seem to violate any Florida Bar rules, Scales said. It’s not misleading, one of the bigger violations when it comes to attorney advertising.
However, she can see how some might think the ad as distasteful. That makes it a perfect discussion for her two classes.
Some students, she said, likely will see it as OK because it appears to fall within the rules. Others, she said, might see the message and disagree.
“It’s ripe for a debate,” she said.
The content of the advertisements might be permissible, but they were not approved by the Bar beforehand.
Lawyer advertising is strictly monitored by the Florida Bar. One of those rules is all ads must be filed at least 20 days in advances of their planned use.
As of Friday afternoon, the Bar’s Ethics and Advertising Department had not received a fax or mailing from Johns, according to Bar spokeswoman Francine Walker. She went on to say there was no way to determine if any such transmission had been sent to another Bar department until it went to the right area.
Johns did not return calls Friday seeking comment, but did tell the Times-Union he didn’t do anything unethical.
Walker said once an investigation has been opened, all content remains confidential until it’s closed or a grievance committee makes a finding to file a complaint with the state Supreme Court. The issue is being reviewed at the staff level.
Susan Sowards, executive director of The Jacksonville Bar Association declined comment, referring questions to the state organization.
Scales expects her students to be ready with a comment or two, though.
As for her opinion on the issue?
She’s keeping that to herself. She’d hate her idea to influence any upcoming debate.
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