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Adopted | revisions to LEO 1750 on lawyer advertising and solicitation. Approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia October 2, 2019, effective immediately.
On October 2, 2019, the Supreme Court of Virginia approved amendments to LEO 1750, effective immediately.
View the court order (pdf)
Council approved by unanimous vote the proposed amendments to LEO 1750 at its June 13, 2019, meeting. The petition for this amended opinion was filed with the Supreme Court of Virginia on June 19, 2019.
View the current LEO 1750 (pdf)
View the petition to the Court (pdf)
Pursuant to Part 6, § IV, ¶ 10-2(C) of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia State Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics is seeking public comment on proposed revisions to Legal Ethics Opinion 1750, Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation.
The proposed revisions to this LEO remove citations to now-withdrawn Lawyer Advertising Opinions (LAOs) 0101, 0102, 0104, 0105, and 0113. The Committee withdrew those LAOs, along with seven others, on August 1, 2018, because they were obsolete, superseded by amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct, or restated in whole or in part in LEO 1750.
The proposed revisions also include a substantial revision to section B of the LEO, on the use of the phrase “no recovery, no fee.” Effective February 15, 2019, Rule 1.8(e) is amended to allow a lawyer to make the repayment of advanced costs and expenses of litigation contingent upon the outcome of the client’s matter; therefore, it is no longer per se misleading for a lawyer or law firm to advertise that a client will pay nothing if there is no recovery. The LEO has been revised to reflect that fact, though it will still be misleading to advertise “no recovery, no fee” with no additional clarification if the lawyer or law firm may or will require the client to remain responsible for the costs and expenses of litigation.
View proposed revised LEO 1750 (pdf)
Inspection and Comment
The proposed opinion may be inspected via the pdf linked above or at the office of the Virginia State Bar, 1111 East Main Street, Suite 700, Richmond, Virginia 23219-0026, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Copies of the proposed opinion can be obtained from the offices of the Virginia State Bar by contacting the Office of Ethics Counsel at 804-775-0557.
Any individual, business, or other entity may file or submit written comments in support of or in opposition to the proposed opinion with Karen A. Gould, executive director of the Virginia State Bar, not later than April 1, 2019. Comments may be submitted via email to publiccomment@vsb.org.
Updated: October 3, 2019