Medium-Specific Regulation of Attorney Advertising: A Critique

Abstract

Florida has been one of the most aggressive states in regulating attorney advertising. The Florida Supreme Court recently adopted new and more stringent rules regulating broadcast advertising by attorneys, and the court appears poised to adopt new and more stringent rules governing Internet advertising by attorneys. As this Article details, the problem is that Florida's new and proposed rules violate both the First Amendment and sound public policy principles. This Article provides guidance to states contemplating further regulation of attorney advertising, and it indirectly critiques current commercial speech doctrine.

Keywords: attorney advertising, First Amendment, commercial speech, attorney regulation, Internet advertising, broadcast advertising, Internet regulation, attorney blogs, attorney websites

JEL Classification: K10