Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1977 ruling in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona opened the door to attorney advertising, lawyers have made their pitches on TV, in print and, in more recent times, on the internet. The State Bar of Texas began trying to regulate ads under disciplinary rules approved by its membership and adopted by the Texas Supreme Court in 1982. But the rules have changed over the years.
Gene Major, the State Bar’s advertising review director, says, “The rules are designed to protect the public from advertisements that are deemed to be false, misleading or deceptive.”
