The General Legal Council (GLC) is cracking the whip on attorneys-at-law who continue to flout the rules governing how they are allowed to advertise their services.

Under the Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules, which were amended in 1998, attorneys can advertise but there are guidelines to follow.

Among the guidelines are that attorneys may advertise in connection with their practice provided that such advertising:

“(i) shall not be false in any material particular;

(ii) shall not be misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive or likely to create an unjustified expectation;

(iii) shall not be vulgar, sensational or of such frequency or otherwise such as would or would be likely to adversely affect the reputation or standing of any attorney or the legal profession;

(iv) shall not claim or imply superiority for the attorney over any or all other attorneys;

(v) shall not contain any testimonials or endorsements concerning the attorney;

(vi) shall not make any reference to the fact that the attorney has held judicial appointment;

(vii) shall not name a member of staff in the advertisement unless that member of staff is an attorney qualified to practice and, where the attorney named in the advertisement is not a partner, the status of such attorney must be expressly stated, and any of the following terms used alone or in combination will be deemed a sufficient indication of the status of such person, namely, associate, assistant, consultant;

(viii) shall not contain any claim or words to the effect or implying that the attorney is a specialist, expert, leader or an established or experienced practitioner in any field of practice or generally, although it may contain a statement of the fields of practice in which the attorney will or will not accept instructions except that an attorney who has obtained a certificate of accreditation in an area of law pursuant to and in accordance with an accreditation scheme approved by the General Legal Council may advertise the fact of that accreditation and may be identified as a “specialist”, “accredited specialist” or “accredited attorney” in the area of law to which the certificate of accreditation relates.”

But in its annual report for the 2018-2019 year the Advertising Regulatory Committee of the GLC said it had to write to 11 attorneys-at-law advising them that their websites, advertisements in the Yellow Pages, on the Internet and in social media, were in breach of the rules.

“The nature of the breaches ranged from advertising summer specials at reduced rates, sole practitioners practising using the business name ‘& Co’, attorneys claiming to be specialists and implying superiority over other attorneys,” said the committee.

According to the committee, a number of the attorneys responded favourably to its letters and agreed to remove the advertising while thanking it for its guidance, while others have ignored the letters.

The committee said it has advised the GLC of those attorneys who have refused to comply with its directive in an effort to get them to desist.