Pennsylvania Code
Title 204 - JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS
Part V - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT
Subpart A - PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Chapter 81 - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Subchapter A - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
INFORMATION ABOUT LEGAL SERVICES
Rule 7.3 - Solicitation of Clients
Universal Citation: 204 PA Code ยง 7.3
Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 44, November 2, 2024
(a) "Solicitation" or "solicit" denotes a communication initiated by or on behalf of a lawyer or law firm that is directed to a specific person the lawyer knows or reasonably should know needs legal services in a particular matter and that offers to provide, or reasonably can be understood as offering to provide, legal services for that matter.
(b) A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment by live person-to-person contact when a significant motive for the lawyer's doing so is the lawyer's or law firm's pecuniary gain, unless the contact is with a:
(1)
lawyer; or
(2) person who has a family, close personal, or prior
professional relationship with the lawyer or law firm.
(c) A lawyer may utilize targeted, direct mail advertisements to solicit professional employment.
(d) A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment even when not otherwise prohibited by para-graph (b), if:
(1) the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the physical, emotional
or mental state of the target of the solicitation is such that the person could not exercise reasonable
judgment in employing a lawyer;
(2) the target of the
solicitation has made known to the lawyer a desire not to receive communications from the lawyer;
(3) the solicitation involves coercion, duress, or harassment; or
(4) the solicitation is directed to a party who has been named as a
defendant or respondent in a domestic relations action. In such cases, the lawyer shall wait until proof of
service appears on the docket before communication with the named defendant or respondent.
(e) This Rule does not prohibit communications authorized by law or ordered by a court or other tribunal.
(f) Notwithstanding the prohibitions in this Rule, a lawyer may participate with a prepaid or group legal service plan operated by an organization not owned or directed by the lawyer that uses live person-to-person contact to enroll members or sell subscriptions for the plan from persons who are not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.
Comment:
(1)
Paragraph (b) prohibits a lawyer from soliciting professional employment by live person-to-person contact
when a significant motive for the lawyer's doing so is the lawyer's or the law firm's pecuniary gain. A
lawyer's communication is not a solicitation if it is directed to the general public, such as through a
billboard, an Internet banner advertisement, a website or a television commercial, or if it is in response to
a request for information or is automatically generated in response to electronic searches.
(2) "Live person-to-person contact" means in-person, face-to-face, live
telephone visual or auditory person-to-person communications where the person is subject to a direct personal
encounter without time for reflection. Such person-to-person contact includes text messages. Person-to-person
contact does not include chat rooms or other written communications that recipients may easily disregard. A
potential for overreaching exists when a lawyer, seeking pecuniary gain, solicits a person known to be in
need of legal services. This form of contact subjects a person to the private importuning of a trained
advocate, in a direct interpersonal encounter. The person who may already feel overwhelmed by the
circumstances giving rise to the need for legal services, may find it difficult to fully evaluate all
available alternatives with reasoned judgment and appropriate self-interest in the face of the lawyer's
presence and insistence upon an immediate response. The situation is fraught with the possibility of undue
influence, intimidation, and over-reaching.
(3) The potential
for overreaching inherent in live person-to-person contact, justifies its prohibition, since lawyers have
alternative means of conveying necessary information. In particular, communications can be mailed or
transmitted by email or other electronic means that do not violate other laws . These forms of communications
make it possible for the public to be informed about the need for legal services, and about the
qualifications of available lawyers and law firms, without subjecting the public to live person-to-person
persuasion that may overwhelm a person's judgment.
(4) The
contents of live person-to-person contact can be disputed and may not be subject to third-party scrutiny.
Consequently, they are much more likely to approach (and occasionally cross) the dividing line between
accurate representations from those that are false and misleading.
(5) There is far less likelihood that a lawyer would engage in overreaching
against a former client, or a person with whom the lawyer has a close personal or family relationship, or in
situations in which the lawyer is motivated by considerations other than the lawyer's pecuniary gain. Nor is
there a serious potential for overreaching when the person contacted is a lawyer. Consequently, the general
prohibition in Rule 7.3(a) is not applicable in those situations. Paragraph (b)is not intended to prohibit a
lawyer from participating in constitutionally protected activities of public or charitable legal-service
organizations or bona fide political, social, civic, fraternal, employee or trade organizations whose
purposes include providing or recommending legal services to their members or beneficiaries.
(6) A solicitation that contains false or misleading information within the
meaning of Rule 7.1, that involves coercion, duress or harassment within the meaning of Rule 7.3(d)(3), or
that involves contact with someone who has made known to the lawyer desire not to be solicited by the lawyer
within the meaning of Rule 7.3(d)(2) is prohibited. Moreover, if after sending a letter or other
communication as permitted by Rule 7.2 the lawyer receives no response, any further effort to communicate
with the recipient of the communication may violate the provisions of Rule 7.3(b). Live, person-to-person
contact of individuals who may be especially vulnerable to coercion or duress is ordinarily not appropriate,
for example, the elderly, those whose first language is not English, or the disabled.
(7) This Rule does not prohibit a lawyer from contacting representatives of
organizations or groups that may be interested in establishing a group or prepaid legal plan for their
members, insureds, beneficiaries or other third-parties for the purposes informing such entities of the
availability of and details concerning the plan or arrangement which the lawyer or lawyer's firm is willing
to offer. This form of communication is not directed to people who are seeking legal services for themselves.
Rather, it is usually addressed to an individual acting in a fiduciary capacity seeking a supplier of legal
services for others who may, if they choose, become prospective clients of the lawyer. Under these
circumstances, the activity which the lawyer undertakes in communicating with such representatives and the
type of information transmitted to the individual are functionally similar to and serve the same purpose as
advertising permitted under Rule 7.2.
(8) In Rule 7.3(d)(4), the
term "domestic relations actions" includes the actions governed by the Family Court Rules, see Pa.R.C.R No.
1931(a), and actions pursuant to the Protection of Victims of Sexual Violence or Intimidation Act, see 42
Pa.C.S. §§ 62A03 et seq. In such cases, a defendant/respondent party's receipt of
a lawyer's solicitation prior to being served with the complaint can increase the risk of a violent
confrontation between the parties. The prohibition in RPC 7.3(d)(4) against any solicitation prior to proof
of service appearing on the docket is intended to reduce any such risk and allow for the plaintiff to take
any appropriate steps.
(9) Communications authorized by law or
ordered by a court or tribunal include a notice to potential members of a class in class action
litigation.
(10) Paragraph (f) of this Rule permits a lawyer to
participate with an organization which uses personal contact to enroll members for its group or prepaid legal
service plan, provided that the personal contact is not undertaken by any lawyer who would be a provider of
legal services through the plan. The organization must not be owned by or directed (whether as manager or
otherwise) by any lawyer or law firm that participates in the plan. For example, paragraph (f) would not
permit a lawyer to create an organization controlled directly or indirectly by the lawyer and use the
organization for the person-to-person solicitation of legal employment of the lawyer through memberships in
the plan or otherwise. The communication permitted by these organizations must not be directed to a person
known to need legal services in a particular matter, but must be designed to inform potential plan members
generally of another means of affordable legal services. Lawyers who participate in a legal service plan must
reasonably assure that the plan sponsors are in compliance with Rules 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3(d).
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Pennsylvania may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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