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Second Circuit Approves Attorney Advertising

Second Circuit Approves Attorney Advertising

By Sean T. Carnathan
Litigation News
Associate Editor
May 17, 2010

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently approved attorney advertising [PDF] that includes depictions of the lawyers as having super powers.

The challenged advertisements included ones referring to the lawyers of the firm as “heavy hitters,” portraying comical scenes, or incorporating special effects and jingles. In some advertisements, they depicted themselves “providing legal assistance to space aliens,” towering as giants above buildings, or running so fast that they appeared as blurs.

The firm’s advertising efforts apparently work. According to one ad posted on their website, “Quality Counts,” last year the firm fielded more than 9,000 calls from personal injury plaintiffs and handled more than 1,500 cases.

The dispute arose when the New York Appellate Division adopted new rules prohibiting certain types of attorney advertising and solicitation, which would have barred, among other things, “testimonials from clients relating to pending matters, portrayals of judges or fictitious law firms, attention-getting techniques unrelated to attorney competence, and trade names or nicknames that imply an ability to get results.”

Read the rest of Attorney Carnathan’s article at the American Bar Association’s Litigation News section >>

O’Connor, Carnathan and Mack LLC is a commercial litigation law firm located in Burlington, Massachusetts that helps companies and individuals resolve complex business disputes, insurance coverage disputes, and personal injury claims. Our legal team includes top-flight commercial litigation attorneys as well as dedicated personal injury lawyers. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as closely-held businesses and astute individuals. We believe every client deserves the finest representation possible for a fee they can afford. Accordingly, we offer our services at rational hourly rates and on a contingency fee basis, devise our strategies to fit the amount at stake, and are open to creative alternative fee arrangements as well. Our attorneys serve clients in Middlesex County and Suffolk County, as well as throughout Massachusetts and New England. Contact us to learn more.