Texas

Contact Information

Complaints
State Bar of Texas
P.O. Box 12487
Austin, TX 78711
Phone: (512) 463-1391
Fax: (512) 477-4607

State Bar
State Bar of Texas
1414 Colorado
Suite 603
Austin, TX 78711
Phone: (512) 463-1463
Fax: (512) 463-7388

Robin Sisco
Director
Advertising Review Department
c/o State Bar of Texas
P.O. Box 12487
Austin, TX 78711-2487
Tel: (800) 566-4616
Tel: (512) 463-1463
Fax: (512) 463-1475

Status

The Advertising Review Committee has released proposed changes to the advertising rules. We understand that the State Bar of Texas Board of Governors approved the proposed rule modifications the week of June 8, 1998. They must now go to the state Supreme Court and, if the Court approves, to the full membership of the Texas Bar in a referendum (possibly this November). For further information and updates on the proposals, contact the State Bar of Texas Advertising Review Committee.

The Advertising Review Committee now has a Web Site that contains all of the advertising rules, filing requirements, interpretive comments, application forms, etc. I encourage you to visit there first if you have a question about the current, applicable rules.

The Advertising Review Committee that regulates advertisements under the Texas Disciplinary rules of Professional Conduct approved interpretive comments concerning how Part 7 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules are applied to Web Page Sets on the Internet. The rules were originally published in the June 1995 issue of the Texas Bar Journal. (See 58 No. 6 TBJ at 583). Additional interpretive comments appeared in the TBJ in November 1995 (58 TBJ, No. 10 at 1046). There is a link below to a copy of Interpretive Comment 17. The Advertising Review Committee is currently working on revisions to the advertising rules that will incorporate websites, chat rooms and e-mail regulations directly into the disciplinary rules governing advertising.

June 1, 1996, was the deadline to bring regulated advertising into compliance and file them with the Advertising Review Committee. Generally, Web Page sets should be filed along with a $50.00 filing fee at least 30 days prior to the Page Set's first dissemination.

The State Bar offers an advertising review packet. Contact the Advertising Review Department at the numbers above (sorry no e-mail yet). We understand that the March 1996 edition of the Texas Bar Journal also has an article, Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct: Comments to Part Seven Regarding Attorneys' Presences on the Internet," (59 T.B.J. 256).

Rules and Regulations

The Legal Information Institute offers a full version of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. We offer a copy of Interpretive Comments 15 and 17 on how part 7 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct will be applied to attorney presences on the Internet. Finally, you can download the State Bar Rules, the Code of Judicial Conduct, the Lawyers' Creed, the Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, and the Rules for Removal or Retirement of Judges at the UTOPIA Foundation.

In addition, the Texas Electronic Ethics Reporter offers State Bar ethics opinions by number or by topic. It also offers Texas Ethics Commission Advisory Opinions by number or by topic. Finally, it offers some municipal ethics codes.

Potential Issues

Rule 7.02: No false or misleading communication.
Rule 7.04(f): Retain copy of advertisement for four years.
Rule 7.04 Identification of attorney as specialist.
Rule 7.07: Filing requirements.

Other Local Associations

The State Bar's Appellate Practice & Advocacy Section, and the State Bar's Computer Section have established Web sites. The Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, in turn, is a non-profit which functions to encourage ethics and professionalism among Texas' 66,000 lawyers. The Center publishes books, bibliographies of Ethics materials, and sponsor sa 4 hour professionalism course for new lawyers required by the state Supreme Court to be taken by all new lawyers. The site offers the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, the Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, the Opinions of the Ethics Committee of the Supreme Court, as well as other helpful information.