Advertising by Missouri lawyers is getting scrutiny from lawyers who might be recommending judges put some new controls on how lawyers promote themselves. Lawyers are running a lot of ads these days asking people suffering from this or that ailment to call them or saying that they’ve been able to settle tax cases for pennies on the dollar. The way lawyers are soliciting business gets a critical look from a special Missouri Bar Committee which says current rules aren’t being enforced well enough or need clarification to make enforcement better. Bar president Bill Corrigan says one of the new rules would keep lawyers from advertising results they have obtained on behalf of clients. The new rules also provide specific limits on solicitation of prospective clients and bars lawyers from advertising areas of practice in which the lawyer has no exjperience or competence. The Bar’s board of governors couild decide by the end of the month if it will pass along the proposed rules to the State Supreme Court, which will make the ultimate decision on whether to put them in place. Violators could lose their law licenses.
