Recent proposed amendments to Rule 4-7.13 of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar (“Florida Rules”) may encourage you to do so. Googled
In fact, Florida lawyers may see an amendment to the comments to Florida Rule 4-7.13 after complaints about Google AdWords and similar marketing tactics reached the Florida Bar Board of Governors.
In January 2018, Miami personal injury attorney, Alex Hanna, claimed that competitors were purchasing his name through Google AdWords and using his firm’s name to drive Internet traffic to their websites. As a result, the competitors’ clients began threatening him with Bar complaints in the mistaken belief that he represented him. Consequently, Hanna requested a rule change that would “prohibit a lawyer from stating or implying that another lawyer is currently part of the advertising lawyer’s firm when that is not the case.”
The latest proposed amendment includes subsection (12) under “Examples of Deceptive or Inherently Misleading Advertisements.”
“A statement or implication that another lawyer or law firm is part of, is associated with, or affiliated with the advertising law firm when that is not the case, including contact or other information presented in a way that misleads a person searching for a particular lawyer or law firm, or for information regarding a particular lawyer or law firm, to knowingly contact a different lawyer or law firm.”
Although initially Hanna’s request failed as Hanna received push-back from other attorneys who asserted that Hanna’s request was both “anti-competitive” and unnecessary. His proposal was reconsidered after it evoked strong community support, including support from the Citizens Advisory Committee.
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