Association With Legal Profession Bad For Pit Bulls' Image, Or Vice Versa???

Texas attorney John Browning, a partner in the Dallas office of Gordon & Rees, LLP, offers his commentary on the topic of lawyer advertising in a recent issue of The Southeast Texas Record:

• As anyone who's ever watched daytime or late night television can attest, "classy" is not a word one would associate with most lawyer advertising. Whether they're calling themselves things like "The Hammer," riding in tanks or promising you big money for your injuries (whether you know you've been injured or not), lawyers in many commercials come across as well, kind of sleazy.

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• Some states restrict advertising that reflects poorly on the legal profession, such as the Florida Supreme Court's decision to discipline the lawyers who used a pit bull logo and "1-800-PIT-BULL" phone number in their advertising. Ironically, the only non-lawyer who had complained was a pit bull breeder who felt that being associated with lawyers was bad for the dogs' image!

For more commentary on lawyer advertising, see Legally Speaking: Low Points in Lawyer Advertising.

For the Florida Supreme Court's "pit bull" ruling (imposing discipline on two attorneys for using television advertising devices invoking the pit bull breed of dog which, according to the court, "demean all lawyers and thereby harm both the legal profession and the public’s trust and confidence in our system of justice"), see Fla. Bar v. Pape, 918 So. 2d 240; 2005 Fla. LEXIS 2287 (2005).