Ethics Hotline & Opinions

Ethics Docket No. 1995-05

MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, INC.

COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 1995-05

Advertising: charging for expenses

Your inquiry requests that we consider your insertion of the following language in your yellow pages advertisement: ""Client may be responsible for reasonable costs."" Pages suggests that ""we charge no fee if there is no recovery,"" you intend to insert the additional language.

Initially, please note that the guidelines which govern the Committee on Ethics indicate that the Committee does not approve proposed advertising copy.

Nevertheless, your inquiry contains an analysis of your responsibilities under the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct. The analysis indicates a recognition of Rule 7.2 (e) which states that ""an advertisement or communication indicating that no fee will be charged in the absence of a recovery shall also disclose whether the client will be liable for any expenses."" Your concern with that Rule is the distinction between the phrase ""will be liable for any expenses"" as opposed to your phrase ""may be responsible for reasonable costs.""

You cite Rule 1.8 (e), which explains that a lawyer may advance court costs and expenses of litigation which do not necessarily need to be repaid, and that a lawyer may, when representing an indigent client, pay court costs and expenses of litigation on behalf of the client.

The Committee concurs with your interpretation of the obligation for the payment of these costs and expenses. While the Committee believes that your reading of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct appears to be accurate, this does not constitute an endorsement of the wording that you suggest in the isolated context in which it has been presented to us.

The Committee, as previously stated, however, does not approve or disprove advertising and is unable to state with certainty what is or is not misleading in any particular context or circumstance. Further, the Committee has not seen nor reviewed your advertising in the yellow pages (nor would it consider doing so) which suggests as you state that ""we charge no fee if there is no recovery."" Whatever advertisement you use must comply in all respects with Rule 7.2.

DISCLAIMER: Opinions of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) Ethics Committee are an uncompensated service of the MSBA. This Committee’s opinions are not binding on the Maryland Court of Appeals, Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission, MSBA or this Committee. The reader is advised that subsequent judicial opinions, revisions to the rules of professional conduct, and future opinions of this Committee may render the Opinions stated herein outdated. As such, the Committee’s opinions are advisory only and neither the Committee nor the MSBA assumes any liability whatsoever with respect thereto. Accordingly, reliance upon the opinions of this Committee is solely at the risk of the user.