Ethics Opinions
Iowa Supreme Court Board of Professional Ethics and Conduct
Date of Opinion:
03/08/2005
Opinion Number:
05-03
Title:
ADVERTISING: LISTING IN CORPORATE COUNSEL MAGAZINE
Opinion:
As a result of your nomination by
The Best Lawyers in America
as an attorney in the field of Bankruptcy,
Corporate Counsel
magazine has solicited your listing for inclusion in an issue of that magazine that will include bankruptcy attorneys selected for
The Best Lawyers in America
. You request the Board’s opinion as to whether inclusion of your and your firm’s listing in an issue of
Corporate Counsel
would be permissible.
The Board has previously issued four opinions with respect to inclusion of Iowa Lawyers in
The Best Lawyers in America
: 91–26, 92–11, 92–36, and 93–06. The issue for determination in each opinion was whether that publication was a reputable law list or legal directory “intended primarily for the use of the legal profession.”
See
Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers DR 2–101(C). If so, the inclusion of “such information as traditionally has been included in these publications” was not improper.
A final determination that a listing by an Iowa lawyer in
The Best Lawyers in America
was not improper was made by the Iowa Supreme Court in its ruling of December 22, 1993, following an exception taken to Ethics Opinion 93–06.
Corporate Counsel
is a magazine distributed to 30,000 General Counsel/ Associate General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, and In-House Counsel at corporations throughout the United States. Thus, it is also a publication intended primarily for the use of the legal profession and the inclusion of the listing of an Iowa Lawyer would not be improper.