Saturday, October 02, 2004

Allen firm settles with Virginia State Bar on bragging rights

The Richmond paper has this article ("Firm gets bragging rights up to a point," 10/2/04) on the resolution between the Allen firm and the Virginia State Bar regarding the language of some of the firm's advertisements, over the claim that some of the lawyers were cited in "Best Lawyers in America."

The article explained:

"Five of the Allen firm's competitors filed a complaint with the State Bar's Standing Committee on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation in 2001 contending that the ads violated legal ethics. Ethical rules generally bar the use of such superlatives as "best."

The dispute led to three opinions from the committee and a fourth one from the State Bar Council, the bar's governing body. The fourth opinion wound up before U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams, who barred the State Bar from taking disciplinary action against the firm.

The State Bar appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which asked the parties to mediate the dispute."

The parties agreed that it is not unethical for the firm to state correctly that its lawyers are listed in the book of best lawyers, and the rest will be litigated before the Virginia Supreme Court.

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