Lawyers and law firms often make charitable donations. Said donations often involve a listing of the lawyer’s name or the fact of the donation. Similarly, law firms and lawyers advertise their services. The Ethics Committee of the Mississippi Bar (“Committee”) determined that it was unethical for a lawyer to advertise that a portion of the fees a lawyer received would be shared with a charitable organization. [1] As the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct on which the Committee relied are nearly identical to the respective ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, other states that have adopted similar ethical rules would likely come to the same conclusion.
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Lawyers Can Make Charitable Donations and Lawyers Can Advertise, Just Not Together
ABA Young Lawyers Division, Ethics and Professionalism Committee Newsletter, Summer 2016, Vol. 1 No. 4
By: Anna M. Outzen