On March 7, 2012, the subcommittee assigned to review the use of testimonials in advertising met via tele-conference to discuss possible changes to the staff-proposed opinion and to determine what recommendations to make to the full Ethics Committee. I participated on the telephone conference call. The long and short of it is that the subcommittee will recommend that testimonials be permitted, even those that refer to results, so long as no specific dollar amounts are included in any such testimonial. This means that attorneys would be able to have client endorsements on their websites, brochures and other print advertising. They could also use client videos on their websites, and even include client testimonials in radio and TV ads, so long as an appropriate disclaimer can be prominently and conspicuously displayed so that it may be read by the viewer. The Ethics Committee will meet in April to discuss the subcommittee’s recommendation. There’s no guarantee that the subcommittee’s recommendation will be adopted by the Ethics Committee. We’ll just have to wait and see.
