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99 N.J.L.J. 496
June 3, 1976
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
Appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court
OPINION 332
Availability as Consultant in
Law Journal and Lawyers Diary
The inquirer, a member of the New Jersey Bar, who is also a
publisher of the New Jersey Law Journal and the Lawyers Diary and
Manual, including the Bar Directory of New Jersey, asks the opinion
of this Committee on the following question:
Would it be proper for a member of the
Bar of New Jersey to advertise his
availability to act as a consultant to or
associate with another attorney in a
particular field of law by way of an insertion
of a notice
(1) in the New Jersey Law Journal, a
weekly publication, and
(2) in the New Jersey Lawyers Diary and
Manual, an annual publication?
The inquirer further states that his "inquiry relates to an
attorney advertising his availability to act as a consultant to or
associate with another attorney in fields of law such as are
approved for publication by the American Bar Association."
The inquirer further submits that the question should be
answered in the affirmative on the basis of DR 2-105(A)(3) as
applied in this Committee's Opinion 242, 95 N.J.L.J. 973 (1972),
where we held:
The inquiry, however, may be construed
also to inquire as to whether a professional
announcement on this subject may be directed
to other lawyers through insertion in the New
Jersey Law Journal. It is our opinion that it
may, so long as the announcement follows the
mandate of DR 2-105(A)(3) which reads as
follows:
A lawyer available to act as a
consultant to or as an associate of
other lawyers in a particular branch
of law or legal service may
distribute to other lawyers and
publish in legal journals a
dignified announcement of such
availability, but the announcement
shall not contain a representation
of special competence or experience.
The announcement shall not be
distributed to lawyers more
frequently than once in a calendar
year, but it may be published
periodically in legal journals.
Our prior Opinions 107 and 108, 90 N.J.L.J.
245 (1967), which limited such announcements
to "specialized legal services" as there
interpreted were governed by former Canons of
Professional Ethics, Canon 46 without the
amendments to that Canon adopted by the
American Bar Association in 1946. Unlike
those amendments, DR 2-105(A)(3) has now been
adopted in New Jersey and in our opinion
governs this aspect of the inquiry.
Similar inquiries were considered and answered affirmatively
in 1974 by the Massachusetts Bar Association's Committee on
Administration of Justice, Subcommittee on Ethics, in two separate
opinions, namely, 74-4 and 74-11.
It is our considered opinion that our conclusion in Opinion
242 with reference to a professional announcement appearing in the
New Jersey Law Journal applies with equal force and effect to a
similar announcement or list in the Lawyers Diary and Manual and
Bar Directory of New Jersey, and therefore the proposed insertion
is permissible.
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