As you probably know by now, four presiding justices in New York proposed radical changes to attorney advertising rules last summer. Initial response to the proposed rules was swift and extensive, with scores of people airing concerns over the rigid standards being contemplated. The justices took the feedback into consideration and modified their proposed rules to some extent. However, the belief among many practioners and legal marketers is that the amended rules are still too strict...
So what are the rules? Who has to comply, and when? What is the purpose of the new rules? Here's a quick summary:
 WHAT ARE THE RULES? |
You can view the full List of Rules online
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 WHY THE NEW RULES? |
The overall goal is to protect lawyers and the professional image of the bar/legal system, while also taking into consideration the needs of the public insofar as to ensure that the highest standards of legal professionalism are promoted
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| WHO IS IMPACTED? |
All lawyers or law firms with lawyers who are licensed to practice in the state of New York*
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| WHAT IS IMPACTED? |
Virtually every kind of promotion or advertisement
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| EFFECTIVE DATE |
February 1, 2007
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What does this mean for you? Right now, you don't need to make any changes in how you do business unless your firm has lawyers who are licensed to practice in New York.* That said, you should be aware that these standards may be an indicator of change throughout the United States, and your state may be next to adopt restrictive advertising rules. It would benefit you to be knowledgeable on the subject.
If you do have attorneys licensed to practice in New York, you have many changes to make. For starters, your Web site home page must include the disclaimer "Attorney Advertisement". Any pages of the site that promote the firm's success must be marked with the disclaimer "Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome" (many of our firms are choosing to put this disclaimer in the footer of ALL pages). It is critical that you read the full list of rules to know exactly what your firm will need to do to be in compliance, and you may also want to attend an upcoming Webinar on the subject presented by The Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association (NYLMA) and ALM. The Webinar takes place this Thursday, 2/8/07 - for more information or to register, go the LMA Web site.
* Section 1200.5-a [DR 1-105] Disciplinary authority and choice of law.
(a) A lawyer admitted to practice in this State is subject to the disciplinary authority of this State, regardless of where the lawyer's conduct occurs. A lawyer may be subject to the disciplinary authority of both this State and another jurisdiction where the lawyer is admitted for the same conduct.
The New Year may have brought about Microsoft's announcement of the 100 millionth installation of Internet Explorer 7, but it hasn't done much to slow the growth in Firefox usage. In a January 16 InformationWeek article, it appears that the new IE 7 browser installs represent upgrades from previous editions, but not a growth in new users. Mozilla's Firefox browser, however, is a different story.
According to an analyst with the Web metrics company Websidestory, the U.S. market share of Firefox is at 14% and has been steadily climbing each month for the past three months. This surge in popularity is no surprise, considering the bevy of awards tossed Mozilla's way last year, including accolades from PC Magazine, PC World and CNET.
Before you go thinking this is a shameless plug for Firefox, it's not. Internet Explorer is still the standard for the majority of individual and enterprise users and is likely to stay that way. But, I want to raise two important points about Firefox here.
First, for users who, like me, have found themselves disenchanted with Internet Explorer and who are looking for another robust browsing option, Firefox may be an ideal alternative. My own annoyance came at the hands of Windows XP's Automatic Updates, which recently installed the IE 7 upgrade, well, automatically. As a result, certain proprietary Internet applications I had been running, being incompatible with the new version, were nonfunctional. (Since the upgrade, I have found there is a toolkit available for download from the Microsoft Web site, which enables users to postpone IE 7's installation indefinitely.) I went running into the arms of Firefox out of necessity and, although I will continue to use IE for much of my browsing, find that I may actually prefer the alternative.
Second, given the growing popularity of Firefox and users' preferences for other browsers, it is important to consider how your Web site is viewed in each of the browsers. For example, there are many rendering issues between IE 6, IE 7 and Firefox, and these issues can impact how effectively your site is viewed by a user. When we develop a site for a client, we use a product that tests the site in multiple environments. It essentially it takes a snapshot of a Web site using various Web browsers and operating systems. Running this test helps ensure the code developed for your site will accurately and consistently display and function in all environments.
If you have questions about how your Web site appears in various browsers or even if you have browser questions in general, please feel free to drop us a line at info@inherent.com
E-mail dominates as the most prevalent form of marketing communication because it is an easy, cost-effective, and fast way to reach a widely diverse audience. A successful campaign earns the loyalty and trust of your audience by giving them the information they care about while at the same time communicating key marketing messages and encouraging readers to take action. Compared to traditional direct response marketing, e-mail offers some significant benefits:
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Costs less than printed communications and has shorter production cycles |
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Offers instantaneous and measurable results that provide insight into audience segments |
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Promotes your firm's brand by delivering an attractive layout and cohesive message that a subscriber will value and can easily distribute |
Inherent has put together a list of Five Best Practices for law firm e-mail marketing campaigns, which is a must-read before getting started. You will find more detailed information about sending e-newsletters in our E-Mail Marketing Services PDF.
