Lawyers can now advertise their services via text messages to accident victims, as long as the lawyers sending the messages pick up all the costs of the texting. Lawyers are permitted to use text messages to solicit business, assuming they comply with other rules that regulate attorney advertising, as issued by an advisory opinion in May by the Ohio’s Supreme courts of Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline. The opinion is one which reflects changing technology and that also gives lawyers another way to communicate with prospective clients.
The tactic of lawyers pitching their potential clients has been under much scrutiny. As new developments in technology occur, so do the rules that govern the conduct of personal injury attorneys. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the board has stated that, rules that cover a litigator’s conduct allow advertising of services through written, recorded or electronic communication. So the newest marketing technique for personal injury attorneys, very well could be their cellphones. Phone calls are still not allowed. Lawyers can usually obtain personal information about people who have been involved in car accidents, such as phone numbers and addresses, from police reports. The personal injury lawyers, who are are getting cell phone numbers from these police reports, are being required by the Court to pick up the recipient’s cell phone charges. I am not sure how that is going to be enforced, but things have a way of working out- one way or the other!
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